I 
ADVEETISEMENT. 
The principle of establishing Societies for the purpose of 
publishing such works, in various departments of literature 
and science, as would otherwise be inaccessible, has now 
become so generally recognized, as to render any defence 
of their institution wholly unnecessary. 
The Parker, the Camden, the Percy, the Sydenham, and 
several other Societies, have been formed for the purpose of 
supplying a demand for particular kinds of literature, which 
the ordinary means of publication could not be brought to 
meet. Following in the footsteps of these respectable Asso- 
ciations, the Eay Society recognizes as its object, the easy 
acquisition of works on Natural History, more particularly in 
Zoology and Botany, which, from various circumstances, can- 
not be readily procured. In one point, the Eay Society will, 
indeed, differ from most, if not all, of those which have pre- 
ceded it — in the publication, namely, of original modern works, 
or memoirs in Natural History, which, from the expense of 
their publication and the improbability of a sufficiently exten- 
sive sale, would not be undertaken by a publisher at his own 
risk, or printed in the transactions of existing Societies. The 
Council of the Eay Society are very anxious, that this point 
