In this position of affairs, to have succeeded in carrying the Magazine forward and pro- curing for it the favourable opinion of men of undoubted scientific eminence, is a result that cannot be otherwise than gratifying to the Editor.

His labor, it is true, might in a pecuniary sense, have been otherwise more profitably employed ; for the encouragement bestowed in this country upon scientific periodicals is so slight, that if the question of remuneration were entertained for a moment on the part of those who are engaged in them, it would be fatal to the existence of any English journal, on the pages of which Zoology forms a leading feature.

Yet it is this class of works that is turned to for information upon every new discovery in science, which is so eagerly had recourse to when the result of individual observation or research, requires rapid and universal publicity, and by which a medium of common inter- course and communication is established between the cultivators of science in every quarter of the globe.

With regard to the prospects of the Magazine of Natural History the Editor indulges a hope that ultimately it may so far form an ex- ception to the general rule, as to enable him to conduct it upon the strength of its own resources, without feeling that its existence is de- pendent upon fortuitous circumstances.

If in the number of those among whom it now circulates there be any who think that its columns might supply a more regular and comprehensive report of what is passing in the scientific world, the Editor can only plead the want of power, and not that of inclination to supply this deficiency.