IT is imagined that the several descriptions of RIVERFISH, contained in the foregoing pages, are abundantly sufficient for the information of any mere Angler. But those who are curious to know the essential differences between the various species, are hereby recommended to a work entitled Ichthyographia, s. Historia Piscium, by Francis Willughby, Esq. fol. Oxon. 1686; and to a posthumous work of that learned man and excellent naturalist, the Reverend Mr. John Ray, entitled Synopsis Methodica Avium et Piscium, published by Dr. Derham, in Octavo, 1713. And whereas in page 208, n. it is hinted, that the history of AQUATIC INSECTS is but little known; and this stupendous branch of natural science is well worthy of further investigation; the reader is hereby directed to the perusal of the Life of the Ephemeron, an insect little differing from our green, and grey drake, translated from the Low Dutch of Dr. Swammerdam, by Dr. Edw. Tyson, London, Quarto, 1681. And for his further information on this subject, we have added, as the first number of the Appendix to this work, a translation of a Synopsis of these creatures, drawn out from the observations of the above Mr. Willughby, and exhibited in Mr. Ray's Methodus Insectorum, mentioned by Dr. Derham in his PhysicoTheology, page 234. It is not for the improvement of Angling alone, that the above authors are referred to: the study of the works of nature is the most effectual way to open and enlarge the nind, and excite in us the affections of reverence and gratitude towards that Being whose wisdom and goodness are discernible in the structure of the meanest reptile. Further, "The wisdom of God receives small honour from those vulgar heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire his works: those highly magnify him, whose judicious inquiry into his acts, and deliberate research into his creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned admiration." Religio Medici, Sect. 13, |