X. 
PREFACE. 
from it for the purpose of slight improvement beyond a 
customary doctrine, or for some numerical discovery in 
the productions of Nature, sometimes also going astray 
from it through error or prejudice. 
But so invidious has been the character of Devonshire 
in respect of natural productions, more particularly in the 
eyes of botanists, conchologists, and geologists, that we 
have been visited systematically by literati in these depart¬ 
ments, resident in very distant counties or kingdoms. 
Amongst a large number of these worthies may be named 
Hooker, Buckland, De la Beche, Sedgwick, Coldstream, 
De Luc, and Macculloch.—These visits, I am sorry to 
say, shew in their results that it is high time for us to be 
stirred up to greater activity, lest we be subjected to the 
imputation of treading upon grass whilst it perceptibly 
grows under us. If we turn our attention to the several 
departments of Nature, we see equally in all these directions 
that the productions of this district with their attendant 
phenomena contribute by their number, their peculiarities, 
and their general importance, to throw the most satisfactory 
light on the general philosophy of our science, and to aid 
most sensibly a determination of the numerous questions 
now so commonly proposed and discussed in this enquiring 
age. The number and peculiarities of the genera of our 
birds, fish, shells, &c. their geographic ranges, the various 
influences on the economy and actions of our animals, 
above all, the number of interesting geological phenomena 
presented by the county,—enabling the student to deduce 
the laws and general conclusions which constitute the 
usefulness of this science,—these, and a vast number of 
other considerations derived from our Natural History, 
tend to advance our locality to a point of eminence and 
