On the present state of Zoology. 5 
to such pursuits, " Here is employment enough for the vastest parts, 
the most indefatigable industries, the happiest opportunities, the most 
prolix and undisturbed vacancies." And well might he add, in the 
words of Seneca, " Multum adhuc restat operis, multumque resta- 
bit, nee ulli nato post mitte scecula pracludetur occasio aliquid ad- 
huc adjiciendi"* 
If we turn from contemplating this extensive field to taking a ge- 
neral view of what has been as yet effected in it, we shall not be sur- 
prised at finding the progress of the science to have been very un- 
equal in its different departments. This may be attributed to two 
causes. One is the natural predilection shown by most observers to- 
wards certain branches of Zoology in preference to others; those es- 
pecially which are calculated to excite notice by reason of the size or 
beauty of the animals of which they treat. It is this circumstance 
which has obtained for the Mammalia and Birds so large a share of the 
attention of naturalists, whilst it has caused the Reptiles and Fish to be 
comparatively neglected. The same partiality appears in the case of 
the Invertebrate animals. It is notorious how the departments of 
Entomology and Conchology have had their respective admirers from 
the earliest times, and how seldom we have seen, till lately, any de- 
sire manifested to investigate the other portions of that immense 
group. If here and there we find certain individuals who have de- 
voted themselves to the more obscure tribes ; if Ellis and Lamou- 
roux and a few others have acquired celebrity by their researches into 
the nature of Corallines and other Zoophytes ; if the name of Mul- 
ler will be for ever associated with the microscopic Infusoria, and that 
of Rudolphi with a class of animals from which most other observers 
would shrink with disgust ; these men stand as illustrious exceptions 
to the general indifference shown towards such departments, and shine 
the more conspicuous from having so few competitors in the same 
field. It may, however, be remarked that at the present day this 
source of unequal progress is much on the decline. Naturalists 
do not now restrict themselves so much as formerly to certain branches 
of the science. There appears to be an earnest wish to set them all as 
much as possible upon the same footing, and to bring up from the rear 
some which had for a long time been neglected and overlooked. But 
another cause operates yet more extensivel and more unavoidably 
to retard our knowledge of certain groups of animals, and that is the 
difficulty which in many instances attends the study of them. We 
find some whose ordinary place of residence is confined to stations not 
* Wisdom of God in the Creation, &c. p. 173. 
