INTRODUCTION. XV 



names a "little elegant sea plant" (probably 

 Halecium halecinum, a species of Hydroid 

 Zoophyte), " F'ucus marinus vertebratus pisciculi 

 spinum referens ichthyorachius, or what you 

 think fit." On another occasion Merrett thus 

 expresses his approval of Browne's efforts in 

 this direction: "You have very well named 

 the rutilus and expressed fully the cours to 

 bee taken in the imposition of names, viz : 

 the most obvious and most peculiar differ- 

 ence to the ey or any other sens." We 

 can hardly conceive the difficulties these 

 pioneers of Natural Science had to contend 

 with ; the works of their predecessors were so 

 indefinite as to be of little value in determining 

 species ; they had to depend upon the vague 

 descriptions of fowlers and others ; the same 

 bird would probably be known in half a dozen 

 different localities by as many different names, 

 and since no satisfactory mode of preserving 

 specimens had then been discovered, examples for 

 comparison were not available. If inextricable 

 confusion arose with regard to such a bird as 

 the Osprey, well might Browne write with regard 

 to those less readily characterized, " I confess 

 for such little birds I am much unsatisfied on 

 the names given to many by countrymen, and 

 uncertaine what to give them myself, or to what 



