THE MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY, By J. C. LOUDON, F.L. G. & Z.S. MEMBER OF VARIOUS NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES ON THE CONTINENT. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1834. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PREFACE. In the course of the publication 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 reduced 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. The Natural History Societies of York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Worcester, Bristol, Belfast, and various other places, and the Entomological Society of London, are in a flourishing condition, and some of them have begun to publish volumes of their Transactions. Not only are new periodicals, devoted wholly or partly to natural history, being established in the metropolis, but also in the provinces. Among these deserve more especially to be mentioned, the Entomological Magazine of London, and the Analyst of Worcester. The Continent of Europe, and more especially France and Germany, may be considered as having been long in advance of Britain in natural history pursuits. In the United States of America Natural History Societies are on the increase, and, what redounds much to the honour of a new country, The American Journal of Science (Silliman's) has been some years established, and continues to be respectably supported. There are societies in India which |