PREFACE.

Every additional Volume which appears of the Magazine of Natural History bears evidence of the increasing taste for pur- suits of this kind in the reading world, as well as of the augment- ation of our readers and correspondents.

The present Volume, among other valuable information, con- tains notices of various new cheap publications on the subject of Natural History ; the sale of which, to such an extent as to remu- nerate the publishers, maybe considered as an undoubted evidence that a taste for this science has pervaded all ranks.

It is gratify- ing to us to reflect that we have been among the first to rouse this dormant love of nature and truth ; and still more so, to look forward to the influence which a love of nature, simple truth, and matters of fact, must one day have on the general state of society.

The first symptom of the decline of superstition, and of a blind reverence for whatever has the sanction of antiquity, is the incipient desire of examining the tangible objects which sur- round us.