I e Preface.
  \lVc have fiore -of iftorics of Animals of both thefe wayes;
For bciides the gircat and Magnificent XWorks which Arifotic, Pliny,
Soliuits, and Elian have con pofed ofw",hat they found in other Au-
thor, o3r--whichthey learnt from -thoie who had made fome Obferva-
tions tdiendelves ; We have likewife fbme perticular Relations which
Travellers have written, of Abundance of Animals which are found
oncly in the Countries where they have been: And thofe who
have made the 'e´fcription if thi feveral Parts of the World , have
not foro rrtcn that ofthe Ani'mal wliich arethere to be found.  But
it ma; ihC Said that there is not found any certainty in thefe Hiftories,
nor in theiU Relations.  Thofe who have wt itt the General Hiftory
ofAninials, have thou ght to -render it fufficiently acceptable by the
great number of' things wv7hich they do relate, and by the difiribu-
tion which they do make of the Animals into their different Species;
with their refemblances and differCnces which are found in their parts
of which the various conformation, and all their Natural properties
are ranged infoine commtnan Clapfex. For it is in this that they have
chiefly imployed their dilligence and induftry, the reft not belonging
to them, but to thofe who had made the Defcription of the Animals
on the places, and whofe exa&nefs and fidelitie could not be fuffi-
ciently known to them ,to anf Ierfor them.  So that the Materials,
of which thefe Authors have compofed their Works, being for the
moft part defecive an d layd on tandy Foundations, it may be truly
'aid that the- great Strudure which they have afterwards built
thereon ,xvith fi curious a Symmetry, has no realSolidity.
  Therefore the Curious and Learned, who had formerly but little
valued the worke of Petrus Giliiws, when he undertook to metho-
di7e what ALian, had confufedly related of Animals, have been
much c oncerned at the Iofs of the excellent Remarks which he after-
vards made, in the Travels which Francis. I. Caufed him to take
into Forreign CountriCs,. For he was a very Judicious and perfpica-
cious Man; wnacho was infiruded by reading ofall Authors that writt
on this Subjc&t, and was purpofely fent by the King to make this
fCarch) and whe applied himfelfe thereunto with a particular care;
which made him capable of obferving whatever was remarkable in
Animals.
  The want of thefe (Qualifications, in the generality of thofe
Which have made particular Relations and Afeinoires, renders their
Labour inconfiderable, and their Teftimony very fufpitious: It
                                                          being