11 
fic dictionaries, and her more learned acquaintances, 
for the explanation of obscure terms. She was induced 
at length to hope her exertions might extend to the 
gratification of others of her sex, and give a direc- 
tion to the delight and admiration so generally ex- 
perienced on first visiting the coast, where all is 
exhilarating and new, and where we feel inclined to 
view every scattered object fresh imported from the 
deep with curiosity and interest. 
No books are wanting in the beautiful department of 
Marine Botany ; but any knowledge of Polypidoms, 
(hitherto known under the general denomination of 
Corals and Corallines, prior to M. Lamouroux's 
Histoire, &c. if we except Ellis’s Corallines, and 
a subsequent work on Zoophytes, edited by Solander,) 
had only been dispersed in the works of learned 
men. 
If, therefore, in this selection, the Translator can 
enable her countrywomen to decipher one more page 
of lovely Nature, and, in retracing the wonders of 
