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 ; thai 

 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 specific 

 name. 



These two terms are inseparably associated in every 

 object of which we treat. It is very important, therefore, 

 to have a clear idea of what is meant by the terms genus and 

 species ; and although the most common of all others, they 

 are not the easiest to be clearly understood. The Genus is 



2* 



