PREFACE 



The present volume has been prepared with the object of aiding the 

 study of Zoology in the Ontario High Schools. Already, one branch of 

 Natural History — Botany — has been introduced with gratifying results, 

 and it is thought that the addition of the elements of Zoology to the 

 course may similarly awaken a wide-spread interest in animal life 

 throughout the Province. 



The jjlan of treatment adopted is substantially that of the .Syllabus 

 prescribed by the Education Department. Attention is first directed to 

 the Vertebrates as the most familiar and conspicuous animals, but the 

 essential characteristics of the chief groups of Invertebrates are also 

 "given, the gi'cater amount of space being, however, devoted to such 

 groups as have terrestrial or fresh-water representatives. In each of the 

 classes of the Animal Kingdom, some easily obtainable form is employed 

 as a type in whicli to point out the more obvious structural features of 

 the class, and it is assumed that these will be verified by actual exam- 

 ination. 



A number of figures have been introduced, partly with the view of 

 facilitating such examination, partly to illustrate the less accessible 

 forms. These have, for the most part, been copied from scientific 

 works like the pubUcations of the U. S. Fish Commission, Brehm's 

 Thierlehen, etc., but a few have been drawn for the occasion, Figs. 1 

 and 58 with several others, being from the pea of Mr. E. E. Thompson. 



Much of the educational value of Botany as generally taught in 

 schools results from the accurate observation necessary to employ the 

 terminology correctly, and to make correct diagnoses : Zoology does 

 not lend itself so easily to this kind of exercise, but it affords an 



