IV 
PREFACE. 
With regard to the Naturalists of our own country, it has 
been a source of great satisfaction to the Editors, that their 
Journal should have been instrumental, from its circulation at 
home and abroad, in diffusing a knowledge of their labours : and 
to what extent it has been efficient for this purpose will be 
evident from the multitude of references to the original commu- 
nications which have appeared in it that are to be found in foreign 
Journals, and in the Reports on the various branches of Na-' 
tural History by Wagner, Muller, Von Siebold, Erichson, Bronn 
and others, as may be seen in the translations which have been 
published by the Ray Society. 
Of the manner in which their endeavours have been seconded 
by the lovers of Natural History, the Editors can speak with 
much gratification, as the pages of the Annals have been conti- 
nually honoured with contributions from Naturalists of the first 
eminence : and they regard as the most satisfactory testimony 
which they could receive as to the conduct of their Journal, that 
its successive Volumes have been enriched by the original com- 
munications of so great a number. 
For the principal Bodies connected with the study of Natural 
History in this country, the monthly numbers of the Annals 
furnish an early and faithful record. Authentic reports of the 
proceedings of the Linnsean, Zoological and Entomological 
Societies of London, and the Botanical Society of Edinbm’gh, 
are officially communicated through its pages. 
The commencement of this New Series affords the Editors 
a fit occasion for expressing a hope that they may now receive 
an accession to the number of their supporters. They would 
urge how much their means of giving additional interest and 
value to the Annals, both as to quantity of matter and en- 
gravings, must depend upon the extent of the sale ; in the hope 
that those lovers of Natural History who are not already sub- 
scribers may take this convenient opportunity of increasing the 
number of those by whose support the work has been upheld. 
