( * ) 



Natural History, through the whole Animal Kingdom^ 

 fpeak the language of Britain. 



According to the reception which this fpecrmen of the fubjett,. 

 and of the manner of its execution, may meet with from a difcern- 

 ing public, the editor will be directed whether to proceed in the pu- 

 blication, or reluctantly to defift ; for, from the great expence 

 which unavoidably attends the production of fo extenfive a work, it 

 is evidently impoffible, prudently to go on, without a fubfcription 

 that fhall be fully adequate to indemnify againft all rifk of lofs : He 

 is, however, determined to proceed with the work, fhould a fuffi- 

 cient number of fubfcribers appear, barely to defray the coft of pu- 

 blication, even if no views of profit fhould arife from the fuccefs of 

 the fubfcription. At any rate, however, the clafs of Mammalia 

 fhall be completed, that, even if the work fhould not eventually ba 

 continued, this firft part may not remain a mutilated and ufelefs 

 fragment* 



Since the original profpectus and propofals were publifhed, in* 

 May 1 79 1, fome alterations of the plan of the work have been 

 adopted : Thefe are partly owing to the vaftly larger additional in- 

 formation, which has been derived from various fources, than there 

 was any reafon at firft to have expected ; and they partly proceed 

 from the advice of feveral refpectable fubfcribers, and valued literary 

 friends. In confequence of the former it is now found, that the 

 work will neceffarily extend, when completed, to four volumes ; 

 and, by the latter, the editor lias been induced to add a feries of ac- 

 curate engravings, which have been executed by an excellent artift; 

 Thefe will be found highly ufeful, for illuftrating the fyftematic me- 

 thod of the celebrated Linnaeus, and for conveying more perfect 

 ideas, of feveral rare and curious animals, than any verbal defcrip- 

 uon could poffibly communicate. As- this latter addition greatly 



enhances 



