X 
PREFACE. 
more immediate objects. He finds his pleasure in the con- 
templation of their novel forms, in the examination of those cha- 
racters which distinguish them as species, in the quest of their 
mutual affinities, their relations and analogies with other beings, 
the order in which Creative Wisdom may seem to have called 
them into existence, their habits, economy and uses ; — and in 
all these things he is ever watchful to find a “ moral compli- 
ment” that the pursuit to which his taste and constitution of mind 
has led him may be neither uninfluential nor virtueless on his 
heart. 
The plates and wood-cuts which illustrate the volume are, 
with few exceptions, original, —engraved from drawings made 
for it by Mrs Johnston, who is herself the engraver of fourteen 
of them. The naturalist who may have attempted similar il- 
lustrations will appreciate the labour, perseverance and skill 
which has been bestowed upon them, and will not harshly 
censure any errors of detail which a minute criticism may dis- 
cover. As I could not have undertaken this history without 
her assistance, I may crave, from any one who shall find a merit 
in it, the ascription of that merit to my colleague. 
Berwick-upon-Tweed, 
August 15 , 1838 . 
