; et be INTRODUCTION. Vv 
ee hs R 3 
alla ) und, and teaching is everywhere hard and hardening in 
its ; results. ” Yet the spirit of the collector is abroad in the 
Ii nd, as witness the schoolboys’ persistent ardor for stamps 
which continues through life, and the thousand and one fads 
of the collector, from autographs, coins, bookplates, to the 
luminated posters. With this spirit still dominant let us 
velcome every book that shall incite us to seek rest and 
a eation in the great school of nature. 
_ Allusion has been made to the pre-Darwinian naturalists, 
meaning of course the men of White’s character, not systema- 
7 tists nor embryologists, but the amiable lovers of nature who in 
a quiet and leisurely way informed themselves of the habits 
and appearances of the wild creatures in their haunts. This 
; y] pe of naturalist has in a measure passed away and the change 
came with’the appearance of Darwin’s Origin of Species. Yet 
that book with the contributions of Wallace, depended largely 
or the kinds of observations made by students like White, 
‘Huber, Kirby, Buckland, Audubon, and others. ‘The reason 
of this decadence it is difficult to seek, yet the transcendent 
interest in the modern views of the origin of animals and 
1 Sank has drawn away those who formerly entertained the field 
ings of Natural History Societies, and none have arisen 
to ti ake their places. ‘This is to be lamented, and every effort 
Ss ipod. be made to rekindle the study of these subjects in the 
d way and for all. 
- 
5 
a 
a 
EDWARD S. MORSE. 
