PREFACE. 



TT may be proper to inform the Purchafers of the Catalogue, and the Public in 

 general. That there is no one Article contained in it but was a Part of 

 the Genuine Collection of the late Noble PoffelTor, Margaret CayendiJ!?^ 'ifl-^-^l ^ 

 Duchefs Dowager Portland. Nothing is foifted into it from the Cabinets of 

 others ; but every Subject here recorded came into her Pofleffion, either by In- 



[ heritance, the Affiftance of thofe who were honored with hCr Friendfhip, or by 

 her own Purchafe and Induftry. And how diligent have been her Enquiries 

 into Natural Knowledge and the Polite Arts, as well as fuccefsful her En- 

 deavours to encreafe the Stores of them, the following- Catalogue will, in a 

 great Meafure, demonftrate. In the Articles of Virtu it contains no inconfider- 

 able Part of her moft Valuable Colle£lion ; but in Natural H'ljlory every Sub- 

 je£l is inferted flie had with fo much Pains and Treafure accumulated. And 

 here it will appear, that all the Three Kingdoms of Nature, the Animal, 

 Vegetable, and Fojfil, were comprehended in her Refearches. In all of thefe fhe 

 took infinite Pleafure and Delight J but in none of them is her Cabinet more 

 richly ftored than in that durable and beautiful Part of the FirJI, nzmcd Con- 

 chohgy. In this Branch of Nature's Works, no Colledion in Europe can equal 

 that of her Grace's in Number and Variety. To give fome Idea of its great 

 Extent, it may be remarked, that the celebrated Linncsus, who had ftudied the 

 Subjeffc, and methodized the Materials of it, has not defcribed One Fourth Part 

 of the Obje£ls contained in the Mufeum now offered to the Public. It v/as 

 indeed in the Intention of the enlightened PofTeflbr to have had every unknoivn 

 Species defcribed and publifhed to the W^orld ; but it pleafed God to cut fhort 

 the Defign, not only by the Death-of the ingenious Naturalift employed by her 

 for that Purpofe * ; but, in a fhort Time afterwards, to the great and irreparable 

 Lofs of Scierice, by her own alfo. Had her Life been continued a few 

 Years longer, it is poffible that every Suhjeft in this Catalogue would have 

 been properly defcribed and chara<Stcrifed ; but in the prefent Mazes of Science, 

 all that could be done by the Compiler was only to give in general the claffical 

 or popular Names to fuch Articles as were knov/n to have any, and to leave 



* Dr, Solander, 



(the 



