SOUTH AFRICAN MAMMALS 



A SHORT MANUAL FOR THE USB OF FIELD 

 NATURALISTS, SPORTSMEN AND TRAVELLERS. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY. 



BEFORE proceeding to the individual descriptions of 

 the quadruped animals or mammals found in South 

 Africa, a short account of the principles of zoology may 

 not be out of place. 



Animals form the great division in Nature termed the 

 "Animal Kingdom," in opposition to the "Vegetable" 

 and " Mineral " Kingdoms. A concise and exact definition 

 of an animal is not easy. Linnaeus, the first systematist 

 who reduced the chaos existing in his time to some- 

 thing like order, wrote the following as his description : 

 " Stones grow; vegetables grow and live; animals grow, 

 live and feel." Bymer Jones, in his "Natural History 

 of Animals," vol. i, gives us another definition: "Animals 

 are possessed of an internal receptacle for food wherein 

 they collect the nutriment destined for their support." 



The Animal Kingdom may roughly be divided into 

 two great groups, the Vertebrate (or animals possessing 

 a vertebral column or backbone) and the Invertebrate 

 (animals without this appendage). The full classification 

 in modern use is too long and complicated to warrant 



inclusion in this work, and the reader must refer to one 

 i 



