PREFACE. 
History of Carolina and Florida, was published, Romans, in 1776, wrote the Natural His- 
tory of Florida. In 1782, Thomas Jefferson, the eminent author of our Declaration of 
Independence, interested himself in the Zoology of his.region, especially of the remarkable 
fossil forms, then just being discovered. The name of John Bartram is a most honored 
one in the ranks of American naturalists. His son, William Bartram, inherited his tastes, 
and is well-known in our annals, Benj. Smith Barton was one of the first professors of 
Natural History in the United States; born in 1766, died in 1815. In 1784, Belknap, of 
New Hampshire, incorporated in his history of that State considerable valuable matter on 
its Zoology. A few years later Williams’ Civil and Natural History of Vermont appeared. 
In 1814, the well-remembered expedition of Lewis and Clark in the undiscovered 
regions of the Far West was undertaken, and an impetus was thus given to active measures 
for the unlocking of the great storehouses of American Zoology. At this time Ord was 
studying the Vertebrates, and issued some account of them in a general work on the 
History of North America. In 1802, Rafinesque, an eccentric young man of twenty, came 
to this country, professedly as a botanist, but, in after years, wrote extensively on 
Zoological subjects. An entertaining anecdote of his meeting with Audubon is noticed in 
our introduction to Cheiroptera. Alexander Wilson settled in Philadelphia in 1794, and, 
through the acquaintance and example of William Bartram, became enthusiastic as an 
ornithologist. Wilson’s excellent figures of birds, nearly all of life-size, have not been sur- 
passed for fidelity in outline and color, and his text is the very choicest of descriptive 
English — charming, and the closest transcript of Nature’s utterances. John James 
Audubon was born in Louisiana in 1780, and died in New York, at his beautiful residence 
on the Hudson, in 1851. He studied drawing in France, under David, and may be said 
to have been a professional ornithologist by education and practise. In 1810, Wilson met 
him as a stranger in Kentucky, and was astonished to find the backwoodsman so clever in 
such pursuits. During the years 1824-25-28, Harlan and Godman wrote on American 
Mammals. In 1810, the Prince Maximilian, of Germany, travelled through North and 
South America, and acquired an enormous amount of material in all branches of Zoology. 
His entire collection is now the property of the American Museum of Natural History, in 
Central Park, New York. 
About tins time the valuable RejJorts on the Natural History of New York were 
issued, edited by Dr. DeKay. Similar work was done for Massachusetts by Mr. Emmons. 
Since then much more pretentious and valuable works have been published by the State of 
Massachusetts, written by Gould, Storer, Binney, and others. In 1841, Audubon and 
Bachmann wrote their great work on Mammals of North America. Other writers on 
] Zoology were Holbrook, of Charleston, S. C. ; Leidy, Baird, Kennicut and Newberry. 
Agassiz also gave the weight of his great genius to advance our Zoology. In 1857, Pro- 
fessor Baird produced his great work on Mammals of North America, since which, the 
eqxxally great one on Birds has been issued. Dui’ing the later years, labox’ers in the 
various special fields have gi-eatly inci’eased, and a substantial gain is noxv noticeable in the 
literature of American Zoology. J- B- H. 
