THE Tables are not, at first, to be committed to memory, but 

 only read to give a general view of the subject, and afterward 

 learned by a constant reference to them as each class, order, etc., 

 is taken up. Thus, the table on page XITI should be in constant 

 use during the term, and the last part would not be fully under- 

 stood until the book is finished. The text contains nothing which 

 the cut can better exhibit ; hence the figure should be studied care- 

 fully. The teacher is advised to require his pupils to draw on 

 the board an outline of each animal, showing its size as obtained 

 from the scale under the cut, and every peculiarity in the structure 

 of its teeth, claws, hoofs, bill, etc. This should be followed by a 

 familiar description, drawn from the cut, the text, the teacher's in- 

 structions, and every other source of information above all, the 

 creature itself, where it can be secured. (See note, p. 127.) 



Pupils should be encouraged to make original researches. They 

 can prepare (see page 283) the skeleton of a cat, dog, or other small 

 animal. They can secure common birds, squirrels, frogs, snakes, and 

 insects ; and a little practice will often develop a taste for curing 

 and mounting, which will be as instructive as delightful. They can 

 make collections of birds' eggs and nests. Even the careful study of 

 a common fowl or an oyster, a bird building its nest, an ox chewing 

 its cud, a spider spinning its web, a cat catching a mouse, the varied 

 paces of a horse, or the metamorphosis of a caterpillar, will give a 



