Publisher's Preface
an address delivered before the American Society for the Promotion of Curious Research:
"I am proud, gentlemen, to have had the honor of adding, within the last year, no fewer than fourteen new species to the catalogue of my collections. I would rather make two whiskers grow where one grew before than to gain fame in any other way under Heaven. From the steppes of Siberia to the steaming jungles of Madagascar I have hunted whiskers at peril of life and limb. Among civilized races it is possible that the whisker may be doomed to extinction, since custom ordains that the devastating razor should more and more wreak its handiwork. I hope, however, before it shall be too late, to complete the monumental work which has absorbed my energies for eight long years."
