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PREFACE. 
Perhaps no book was ever so soon, so generally, and with so little envy, 
admitted to take its place at the head of that department of knowledge to 
which it belongs, as the Regne Animal of the illustrious Baron Cuvier. 
This is a high, but a just tribute, both to the work and the author ; for it at 
once showed that the former is what had long been required, and that the 
latter was as much beloved for the kindness and urbanity of his manners, as 
he was admired for the comprehensive range and unprecedented aecuracy of 
his views. 
It must, indeed, be admitted, that, until Cuvier’s great work made its ap- 
pearance, we had no modern systematic arrangement of animals which applied 
equally to all the Classes, Orders, and Families ; — which brought the extinct 
species into their proper situations in the living catalogue, and enabled every 
discoverer of a new animal, or part of an animal, instantly to connect it with 
its proper tribe or family. Important, however, as are the labours of this 
great naturalist, they could not possibly extend beyond the limits of what was 
known ; and as Cuvier was no speculative theorist, but a rigid adherent to 
nature and fact, he kept his system considerably within the limits of those 
who were more speculative, and consequently less accurate. 
For students, no work is equal to that of Cuvier, for it is at once compre- 
hensive and concise 5 and though the student may choose a particular de- 
partment, and require books more in detail with reference to that department, 
he must still have the Regne Animal to point out to him the general analogies 
of the living creation. The present work is a complete Cuvier, as regards the 
essential part of the arrangement ; and it is not a mere translation, but in some 
respects a new book, embodying the original one. Throughout the whole of 
it, there will be found original remarks ; but these are always distinguished 
from that which belongs to Cuvier, by being inclosed within brackets. 
This mode of arrangement was thought to be much better than the appending 
