iv. Preface. 
in a thousand is to be met with who can speak on the 
subject at all. 
In the second motive, plainness of diction may be a 
necessity in an author whose education lacks the knowledge 
of even a smattering of the Classics ; and, possibly through 
this want, he has to confess that he could never see the 
utility of using a dead language in saying what he could 
say in his mother-tongue. He has therefore avoided, as- 
much as he possibly could, the use of technicalities and 
classical names in imitation of classical writers. 
In the third and last motive the reader may possibly 
see, veiled in the confession of " a desire to impart informa- 
tion," a hidden thirst for authorship; but stay thy criticism,, 
gentle reader, until thou find out the joy that is created in 
the breast of him or her who, through the love of Nature, 
has discovered a new fact or a new trait of character in 
anything in the animal or vegetable worlds worth com- 
municating. 
In conclusion, the reader is informed that in the excur- 
sive style adopted, little or no attention has been paid to 
continuity in the parts, nor to the order of classification of 
the creatures, the idea of the work being rather that of a 
guide to the shore. While the Author is sensible that 
some of his conclusions may need fuller explanations by 
illustration, he hopes he has presented to the reader some- 
thing worthy of perusal. 
