ii INTRODUCTION. 



reverence and worship of that Being, who, in the words of the inspired Psalmist, has 

 said, "■ My voice is heard in the roar of the lion, and in the murmur of the insect am I 

 made manifest." The splendor of all earthly monarchs is eclipsed by that of the 

 humblest flower ; the very dust which is scattered by the winds reveals to us the exist- 

 ence of an Omnipotent Being. If we survey the illimitable vault of heaven ; if we 

 examine the flowers which decorate the earth, the birds which traverse the air, the 

 beasts which prowl the desert, the monsters which inhabit the deep, how grand and 

 sublime are then the feelings of our hearts ? In meditating and contemplating those 

 objects, the human soul is transported to the adoration of the Infinite, to the source of 

 supreme and everlasting truth ; and we thereby become more intimately acquainted 

 with our own nature, with the extent of our own duties, with our own condition, and 

 the means which a benevolent and gracious God has given us for augmenting our 

 general and individual happiness. 



Various and dissimilar as may be the modes of education by which the mind of 

 man is led to the knowledge of truth, and thence to the adoration and reverence of an 

 Eternal and Omnipotent Being, it is impossible to select one more capable of producing 

 that desirable end than an intimate acquaintance with the history of those wonderful 

 objects, which in every quarter of the g'lobe, present themselves to the admiration and 

 contemplation of the exploring naturalist. By a knowledge of their habits, their struc- 

 ture, the astonishing variety of their forms, and the universal and unerring laws by 

 which they are governed, the mind becomes impressed with the idea of Omnipotence, 

 and is thus delightfully led to " look from Nature up to Nature's God." 



Having thus briefly expatiated on the advantages and pleasures which are derived 

 from a knowledge of the wonders of creation, we now proceed to state, that the chief aim 

 of the present work is to excite, particularly in the juvenile mind, a taste for the study of 

 natural history ; and if we have been fortunate enough at the close of our labours to 

 have accomplished that end, we are confident that we have rendered an essential benefit 

 to society in general. The parent, who wishes to instil into the minds of his children an 

 idea of the omnipotence of God, has only to conduct them to the den of the lion or the 

 elephant ; and the children, on reading a description of the nature, character, and habits 

 of those wonderful creatures, cannot fail to be impressed with an awful sense of the 

 unlimited love and obedience which they themselves owe to the Great Father of the 

 Universe, and in the fulness of their wonder and gratitude, exultingly exclaim — 



These are thy glorious works. Parent of good ! 



Almighty ! thine this universal frame ; 



Thus wondrous fair, thyself how wondrous then, 



Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens, 



To us invisible, or dimly seen 



In these thy lowest works ; yet these declare 



Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine. 



