A history of British quadrupeds, including the Cetacea / By Thomas Bell ... Illustrated by nearly 200 woodcuts.

  • Thomas Bell
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of British quadrupeds, including the Cetacea / By Thomas Bell ... Illustrated by nearly 200 woodcuts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE. THe advantages of local Faunas are too generally under- stood and acknowledged to require any lengthened proof’ or illustration. It may indeed be doubted whether the study of the animals of particular tracts of country have not con- tributed, more than any other means, to the advancement of zoological knowledge, especially as regards those important branches of it, the geographical distribution of animals, and the influence of climate, of soil, and of other local circum- stances, in determining the range of species, the changes of varieties, and the extent and periods of migration. It is true that in few instances only will the animal pro- ductions of a single country furnish forth such a multitude of forms in any particular group, as shall constitute the basis of a satisfactory illustration of the whole plan of zoological ar- rangement; although in this respect the Annulosa Javanica stands a remarkable example of the riches of a single island, and of the talent and knowledge of its distinguished illus- trators. But even in less favoured climates, and under our own ungenial and changeful sky, few persons are aware to what extent such domestic means of study exist, and how little we need be indebted to foreign aid in acquiring the first principles at least of zoological science. But allowing the necessity of foreign importations for the acquisition of a knowledge even of certain principal groups in each class of animals, there is another important advantage in the cultivation of the Natural History of our own country which requires no such limitation ;—an advantage which appeals with greater force in the present era of the general diffusion of knowledge than at any former period : and that is, the means which are thus offered to multitudes of persons
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