PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



My aim in the first edition of this work was to produce, as its 

 title implies, a handy book of reference to the Classification of 

 the Animal Kingdom, and to bring the contents of the various 

 groups under the eye in the most concise and simple form. 

 Beyond this some general notices were given, and the English 

 names of the species, so far as they had any, and their scientific 

 equivalents. No original remarks were attempted and no opi- 

 nions expressed, excepting in the synoptical tables, and for them 

 I claimed the indulgence of those who saw their way to a better 

 selection of characters ; as to the classification, it is useless not to 

 expect to find differences of opinion. In this edition the latest 

 works have been consulted, especially those of Schmarda and 

 Glaus, which, as giving the most recent views of the German 

 naturalists, have been repeatedly referred to. I have not thought 

 it necessary to go into any details respecting divisions, subdivi- 

 sions, and so on, and their names, which specialists in so many 

 instances delight to produce. Practically they are of little use, 

 and serve chiefly as headings to their author's own pages. 



"Nomenclature is so trifling" a subject to the chieftains of 

 science that I hesitate to mention it; but I think it as well to 



