PEEFAOE. 



In my official capacity as Curator of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences I have been frequently 

 requested to prepare a small hand-book on the 

 local fauna of Philadelphia and on the animal life 

 of the much-frequented New Jersey coast. For 

 a long time I hesitated, knowing what difficulties 

 the preparation of a work intended to meet the 

 requirements of the popular mind ana of the more 

 earnest searcher after nature's truths would entail. 

 But finally, yielding to the imputation that scien- 

 tists, while asking much for themselves, are too 

 apt to disregard the claims of the scientifically- 

 inclined public, I consented in part, and now pre- 

 sent to my readers the following pages as a result 

 of my determination to assist in the cause of popu- 

 lar instruction. For a work on the sea-shore fauna 

 there has, doubtless, been considerable demand, 

 and I can but hope that the present volume may 

 in a measure fulfil the mission for which it is 

 intended. 



The illustrations that accompany the text are in 



3 



