PEEFACE. 
The following pages contain records of 
impressions made upon my mind during a 
residence of seven or eight months in the 
hilly region of the State of Alabama. It is a 
part of the United States visited by compara- 
tively few Europeans ; and those who have 
ever seen it have almost exclusively confined 
their acquaintance with it to the brief glances 
obtained from the interior of a stage coach, 
or the deck of a river steamer. The aspect of 
nature, in particular, presented much that was 
novel and beautiful to me, and induced me to 
believe that what had pleased me in the ob- 
servation might please others in the recital. 
The direction of my thoughts was prin- 
cipally towards Natural History ; and Ento- 
