INTRODUCTION, 



EVERY art and science has a language of technical terms 

 peculiar to itself. With those terms every student must 

 make himself familiarly acquainted at the outset ; and first 

 of all, he will desire to know the names of the objects about 

 which he is to be engaged, 



The names of objects in Natural History are double, that 

 is to say, they are composed of two terms. Thus, we speak 

 of the white-bear, the black-bear, the hen-hawk, the sparrow- 

 hawk ; or, in strictly scientific terms, we have Felis leo, the 

 lion, Felis tigris, the tiger, Felis catus, the cat, Canis lupus, 

 the wolf, Canis vulpes, the fox, Canis familiaris, the dog, 

 &c. They are always in the Latin form, and consequently 

 the adjective name is placed last. The first is called the 

 generic name ; the second is called the trivial, or spe- 

 cific name. 



These two terms are inseparably associated with every ob- 

 ject of which we treat. It is very important, therefore, to have 

 a clear idea of what is meant by the terms genus and species ; 



