PREFACE In the course of the pubUcation of the present Volume, we have complied with the general request of our correspondents, and brought out the Magazine of Natural History monthly, at a re- duced price.

This will enable us to give a more ready insertion to the articles of our contributors, and, we trust, will prompt them to continue and to increase their communications.

In taking a general survey of the progress of Natural History during the past year, it is gratifying to observe the establishment of Natural History Societies, one after another, in many parts of the country.

The British Association has given a grand stimulus to natural history pursuits ; and the personal intercourse, among naturalists, to which it has led, cannot fail to be highly favourable to science, and to good feeling among scientific men.

By this means, also, the great object of science, viz, that of reducing it to practice, and rendering it available for the purposes of domestic and general improvement, is likely to be more immediately effected, than by the single influence of the press.