NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 



WITH the printing of the second edition, the author desires to thank 

 the press throughout the country for the generous praise they have 

 awarded this little book. 



He wishes also to express his gratitude to the numerous friends and 

 teachers who have kindly pointed out some errors, which, it was ex- 

 pected, would escape observation during the hurried passage of the book 

 through the press that it might be ready for the opening of schools. 



To Mr. O. S. Westcott, of the Chicago High School, the author is 

 especially indebted for many valuable suggestions, made after a thorough 

 and critical reading of the work. 



It has been regretted by a few that the systematic names did not 

 accompany the figure of the animal represented. One gentleman writes 

 as follows : 



" I should have advised you to give the scientific names of all the 

 objects to which you have referred. Many will read your book, not 

 children, but who are advanced enough to know the names of things. 

 You might have said, 'Here is a figure of the common clam (Mya 

 arenaria) ' if that is the name nowadays. In this way you give a sort 

 of familiar dictionary to students of any age. More than this, I believe 

 in people learning early the scientific names of scientific objects, such as 

 worms and shells that have no common names. We talk nowadays of 

 verbenas, bouvardias, gladioli. Why not also say Astarte, Natica, etc. ? 

 It is just as easy to learn one as another. Tell a child that a shell is 

 a Modiola, and he learns the word as quickly as mussel." 



It is but fair to say that the propriety of giving the technical names 

 in this book occurred at the outset, and the conclusion to leave them 

 out was only arrived at after long and careful deliberation. It was be- 

 lieved that a very few pupils indeed would care to know them, and that 

 those who did could, in most cases, find access to some of the books given 

 in a list for reference on the last pages of this volume, wherein full de- 

 scriptions of the species oftentimes accompany their mention. 



The main reason, however, in not giving the technical names was, 

 that at present they are changing so rapidly that only the specialist in 

 each department pretends to keep up with the latest appellation. An 



