xii PREFACE. 
the same Almighty Mind presided over Creation in ages so remote as to seem on the 
verge of a past eternity, as in that Adamic Creation which peopled a new and regen- 
erated world. The stndy of the relics of these lost races often tlirows great light on 
the present animal kingdom, and therefore the l^atural History of to-day necessarily 
includes a reference to them. "We have therefore, in these pages, given some general 
notices on this subject, which, with the curious engravings illustrating them, we hope 
may prove interesting and instructive. 
One thing more. In consideration of the frequent use of the French, Cerman, and 
Italian languages in this country — owing alike to the great number of foreigners among 
us, the general enlargement of our literature, and the involving of whole territories 
within our bounds, to many of the people of which one or other of these is a native 
tongue — we have given the popular names of prominent species of animals in these 
several lang-ua^es. 
Finally, in view of the whole subject, considering its vast extent, its amazing reve- 
lations, its boundless details — curious, strange, wonderful, and all immediately and 
inevitably traceable to that God whom we worship, in whom we believe, hope, and 
trust — I cannot but feel that it is well worthy the earnest study of the wise and the 
simple, the learned and the unlearned. If I have placed it within the reach of an 
enlarged circle of readers, and if I have succeeded in commending it effectively to 
their attention, I shall feel that this, my patient labor of some years, has not been 
in vain. 
