PREFACE.

Of all the ftudies which have employed the induftrious or amused the idle, perhaps Natural History deferves the preference; other sciences generally terminate in doubt, or "reft in bare fpeculation, but here every step is marked with certainty, and while a defcription of the objects around us teaches to fupply our wants, it fatisfies our curiofity.

The multitude of Nature's productions, however, feems at firft to bewilder the inquirer, rather than excite his attention; the various wonders of the animal, vegetable, or mineral world, feem to exceed all powers of computation, and the fcience appears barren from its amazing fertility. But a nearer acquaintance with this study, by giving method to our researches, points out a fimilitude in many objects which at first appeared different; the mind by degrees rifes to confider the things before it in general lights, till at length it finds Nature, in almoft every inftance, acting with her ufual fimplicity.

Among the number of Philofophers, who undaunted by their fuppofed variety, have attempted to give a defcription of the productions of Nature, Ariftotle deferves the firft place. This great philofopher was furnished by his pupil Alexander, with all that the then known world could produce to complete his defign. By fuch parts of his work as have efcaped the wreck of time, it appears that he underfood Nature more clearly, and in a more comprehenfive manner than even the prefent age, enlightened as it is with so many later difcoveries, can VOL. IV. G

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boaft. His defign appears vaft, and his knowledge extenfive; he only confiders things in general lights, and leaves every fubject when it becomes too minute or remote to be useful. In his Hiftory of Animals, he first describes man, and makes him a standard with which to compare the deviations in every more imperfect kind that is to follow. But if he has excelled in the hiftory of each, he, together with Pliny and Theophraftus, has failed in the exactness of their defcriptions. There are many creatures defcribed by thole Naturalifts of antiquity, which are fo imperfectly characterized, that it is impoffible to tell to what animal now fubfifting we can refer the defcription. This is an unpardonable neglect, and alone fufficient to depreciate their merits, but their credulity and the mutilations they have fuffered by time, have rendered them ftill lefs ufeful, and juftify each fubfequent attempt to improve what they have left behind. The moft laborious, as well as the moft voluminous Naturalift among the moderns is Aldrovandus. He was furnithed with every requifite for making an extenfive body of Natural Hiftory. He was learned and rich, and during the courfe of a long life indefatigable and accurate. But his works are infupportably tedious and disgusting, filled with unneceffary quotations and unimportant digreffions. Whatever learning he had he was willing fhould be known, and, unwearied himfelf, he fuppofed his readers could never tire; in fhort, he ap pears an ufeful affiftant to thofe who would compile a body of Natural History, but is utterly unfuited to fuch as only wish to read it with profit and delight.

Gefner and Jonfton, willing to abridge the voluminous productions of Aldrovandus, have attempted to reduce Natural Hiftory into method, but their efforts have been fo incomplete as fcarcely to deferve mentioning. Their attempts were improved

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upon fome time after by Mr. Ray, whofe method we have adopted in the Hiftory of Quadrupedes, Birds, and Fishes, which is to follow. No fyftematical writer has been more happy than he in reducing Natural History into a form, at once the fhorteft yet moft comprehenfive.

The fubfequent attempts of Mr. Klein and Linnæus, it is true, have had their admirers, but as all methods of claffing the productions of Nature are calculated merely to eafe the memory and enlighten the mind, that writer who anfwers fuch ends with brevity and perfpicuity is moft worthy of regard. And in this refpect Mr. Ray undoubtedly remains ftill without a rival; he was fenfible that no accurate idea could be formed from a mere diftribution of animals in particular claffes; he has therefore ranged them according to their moft obvious qualities; and, content with brevity in his diftribution, has employed accuracy only in the particular defcription of every animal. This intentional inaccuracy only in the general fyftem of Ray, Klein and Linnæus have indertaken to amend, and thus by multiplying divifions, instead of impreffing the mind with diftinct ideas, they only ferve to confound it, making the language of the science more difficult than even the fcience itself.

All order whatsoever is to be used for the fake of brevity and perfpicuity; we have therefore followed that of Mr. Ray in preference to the reft, whofe method of claffing animals, though not fo accurate, perhaps is yet more obvious, and being fhorter, is more eafily remembered. In his life time he publifhed his Synopfis Methodica Quadrupedum et Serpentini Generis, and after his death there came out a pofthumous work under the care of Dr. Derham, which, as the title page informs us, was revifed and perfected before his death. Both the one and the

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other have their merits, but as he wrote currente calamo, for fubfiftence, they are confequently replete with errors, and though his manner of treating Natural History be preferable to that of all others, yet there was ftill room for a new work, that might at once retain his excellencies, and fupply his deficiencies.

As to the Natural Hiftory of Infects, it has not been fo long or fo greatly cultivated as other parts of this science. Our own countryman Moufett is the first of any note, that I have met with, who has treated this fubject with fuccefs. However it was not till lately that it was reduced to a regular system, which might be in a great measure owing to the feeming infignificancy of the animals themfelves; even though they were always looked upon as of great use in medicine, and upon that account only have been taken notice of by many medical writers. Thus Diofcorides has treated of their ufe in phyfic; and it must be owned, fome of them have been well worth obfervation on this account. There were

not wanting alfo those who long fince had thoughts of reducing this kind of knowledge to a regular form, among whom was Mr. Ray, who was difcouraged by the difficulty attending it; this study has been purfued of late, however, with diligence and fuccefs. Reaumur and Swammerdam have principally diftinguished themselves on this account; and their refpective treatifes plainly fhew, that they did not fpend their labour in vain. Since their time feveral authors have published their Systems, among whom is Linnæus, whofe method being generally efteemed, I have thought proper to adopt. He has claffed them in a very regular manner, though he fays but little of the Infects themselves. However, I have endeavoured to fupply that defect from other parts of his works, and from other authors who have

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written upon this fubject; by which means it is hoped, the curiofity of fuch as delight in these ftudies, will be in fome measure fatisfied. Such of them as have been more generally admired, have been longest infifted upon, and particularly Caterpillars and Butterflies, relative to which, perhaps, there is the largest catalogue that has ever appeared in the English language.

Mr. Edwards and Mr. Buffon, one in the History of Birds, the other of Quadrupedes, have undoubtedly deferved highly of the public, as far as their labours have extended; but as they have hitherto cultivated but a small part in the wide field of Natural Hiftory, a comprehenfive fyftem in this moft pleafing science has been hitherto wanting. Nor is it a little furprising, when every other branch of literature has been of late cultivated with fo much fuccefs among us, how this moft interefting departinent fhould have been neglected. It has been long obvious that Aristotle was incomplete, and Pliny credulous, Aldrovandus too prolix, and Linnæus too fhort to afford the proper entertainment, yet we have had no attempts to fupply their defects, or to give an history of Nature at once complete and concife, calculated at once to please and improve.

How far the author of the prefent performance has obviated the wants of the public in these refpects, is left to the world to determine; this much, however, he may without vanity affert, that whether the fyftem here prefented be approved or not, he has left the fcience in a better ftate than he found it. He has confulted every author whom he imagined might give him new and authentic information, and painfully fearched through heaps of lumber to detect falfehood; fo that many parts of the following work have exhaufted much labour in the execu tion, though they may discover little to the fuperficial obferver.