33re(ace* 



j1 JIE want of 'practical instructions for obtaining and 

 preserving the various productions of Nature has long 

 prevailed, and in endeavouring to supply this desidcra' 

 turn, the Author has been anxious to combine amusing 

 and instructive information, with the results of practical 

 experience, without encreasing the bulk of this volume 

 beyoJid that of a Poclrt Book, and at the same time form 

 a compendious inlroduciion to each branch of Natural 

 History. 



In performing this task, he has prefixed a general 

 outline of the characters of each Class and Order, with 

 the essential or generic characters of the different f ami' 

 lies ; generidly accompanied with a brief sketch of the 

 habits, ceconomy, places of resort, food, and probable 

 modes of procuring the various species ; for the generic 

 characters he is principally/ indebted to Authors who have 

 written on the respective branches of the Science, having 

 in most cases oyiltj rendered the original in more familiar 

 language, avoiding as much as possible all technical 

 phrases ; and where these are unavoidable, he trusts the 

 accompanying Pkdes will render them intelligible ; as 

 well as more completely fix on the memory of the Stu- 

 dent the peculiar forms of the genera delineated. 



