CLASSIFICATION 



1409 



CLASSIFICATION 



among the poets. Because the greatest produc- 

 tions of ancient times have come to be re- 

 garded as the highest examples of literary 

 excellence, the word is applied, in a narrower 

 sense, to the best writers of ancient Greece and 

 Rome, and classic and ancient are frequently 

 used with the same meaning. The Doric, 

 Ionic and Corinthian are known as the classic 

 orders of Greek architecture. The term 

 classics when referring to studies means usually 

 the Greek and Latin languages. 



CLASSIFICATION, an orderly arrange- 

 ment of objects into groups, the objects in each 

 group having some common resemblance. If 

 a boy is given a number of circles, triangles and 

 squares and told to "sort" them, he will place 

 the circles in one group, the triangles in an- 

 other, and the squares in a third. He has 

 classified the objects according to shape or 

 form. If the objects were of different sizes, 

 he might classify them according to size, or if 

 they were of different colors, he might classify 

 them according to color. Again, supposing a 

 child is given a collection of flowers which con- 

 tains pinks of different colors, roses of different 

 colors, and lilies, and is asked to put all the 

 pinks in one group, all the roses in another and 

 the lilies in a third; he then has a more diffi- 

 cult task, because in making his classification 

 he must consider both color and form. If some 

 of the roses are single and some double, the 

 difficulty is increased, for in order to place all 

 the roses in the rose group he must observe the 

 plan and structure of the flowers. 



The term classification, as applied to the 

 study of plants (botany) and animals (zoology), 

 means the arranging of all plants and animals 

 in divisions and subdivisions, each of which 

 depends upon some characteristic common to 

 all objects that it includes. That is, all plants 

 included in the Rose Family, or group, must 

 bear some resemblance to the rose ; all animals 

 belonging to the Cat Family must have some 

 characteristics of the cat. There are so many 

 different kinds of plants and animals that this 

 orderly arrangement became necessary to their 

 systematic study, and scientists have for cen- 

 turies worked upon systems of classification. 

 As more facts are learned, the classification is 

 modified to make it conform to the latest dis- 

 coveries. Consequently no system of classifi- 

 cation remains unchanged, though the changes 

 that are made from time to time are usually 

 made in the smaller groups or divisions. 



In the formation of the largest groups only 

 the most general characteristics are considered, 



as the division of all plants into flowerless and 

 flowering plants. These great divisions are 

 again divided according to some common char- 

 acteristic. Flowering plants are divided ac- 

 cording to the structure of their seeds. Those 

 producing seeds with one seed-leaf (cotyledon) 

 form the group monocotyledonous plants, and 

 those producing seeds with two seed-leaves 

 form the dicotyledonous plants. All animals 

 that eat flesh form the flesh-eating (carnivo- 

 rous) group and those that feed upon plants 

 form the herbivorous group. 



The above illustrations are sufficient to show 

 what is meant by scientific classification. 

 These various groups are usually arranged in 

 the order of their importance, beginning with 

 the largest and ending with the smallest. To 

 all of these divisions Latin names are given, 

 for three reasons. First, Latin was the lan- 

 guage in which scientific works were written 

 when these classifications were begun. Second, 

 Latin is a dead language, and the meaning of 

 the words does not change. Third, the use of 

 Latin gives the same name to the object 

 wherever it may be found. Many plants and 

 animals are known by different popular names 

 in different localities. The bird known as the 

 bobolink in the northern part of the United 

 States and in Canada is known as the reed 

 bird in Ohio and the rice bird in the South. 

 One unacquainted with this fact would nat- 

 urally think that three different birds were 

 named. If, however, the Latin name Do- 

 lichonyx oryzivorus were placed after each 

 popular name we should know that these three 

 names were applied to the same bird. For 

 this reason the Latin or scientific name usually 

 follows the common na.me of a plant or animal 

 in our best works on botany and zoology. 



The groups with which the general reader 

 should be acquainted are the species, the va- 

 riety, the genus, the family and the order. 



Species. A species is a group of individuals 

 which reproduce their kind and are so near 

 alike in all particulars as to indicate that they 

 may have sprung originally from the same 

 parent stock. The seeds of the rose, for in- 

 stance, reproduce the rose, and all roses are 

 near enough alike to indicate that they are 

 descendants of a rose plant. 



Variety. But there are many different kinds 

 of roses and we are not sure when we plant 

 the seeds of any of these roses that another 

 rose exactly like the one from which the seed 

 was taken will be produced. These various 

 divisions within the species are known as 



