PREFACE. 
JoHANN Georg Wagler, wliosc name is well known 
to all interested in Herpetology and Ornithology was 
born on the 28th of March_, 1800, in Nuremberg, where 
his father was Chancellor of the City Court. After 
attending the gymnasium of his native city, where he 
showed a special predilection for Natural History, he 
began his scientific studies at the University of Erlangen 
in 1818. 
On the return of Spix and Martins from their 
celebrated expedition to Brazil in the following year, 
Wagler was invited, at the early age of nineteen, to 
become their Assistant in the Museum of the Academy 
of Sciences at Munich, and afterwards was made one of 
their colleagues. In 18.20 he obtained the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Leipsic, and 
in 1825, after he had assisted Spix in most of his 
zoological works, was sent by King Maximilian- Joseph 
on a special mission to visit the Museums of Holland, 
England, and France. During this journey Wagler 
not only made the personal acquaintance of the most 
eminent naturalists of these countries, but also suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a large number of valuable speci- 
mens for the Museum and Menagerie of Munich. In 
1827 Wagler was appointed Professor Extraordinary in 
the then newly instituted University of Munich, where 
his excellent lectures, grounded upon his great and 
varied knowledge, rendered him specially acceptable to 
his pupils. 
