* PREFACE. 



The true study of Zoology is of more importance than is generally conceived, for although 

 "the proper study of mankind is Man," it is impossible for us to comprehend the loftiness and 

 grandeur of humanity, or even its individual and physical nature, without possessing some know- 

 ledge of the earlier forms of God's animated organizations. We must follow the order of creation, 

 and as far as our perceptions will permit, begin where the Creator began. We shall then find that 

 no animal leads an isolated existence, for the minutest atom of animated life which God has enfran- 

 chised with an individual existence, forms, though independent in itself, an integral and necessary 

 portion of His ever-changing yet eternal organic universe. Hence every being which draws the 

 breath of life forms a part of one universal family, bound together by the ties of a common creature- 

 hood. And as being ourselves members of that living and breathing family, we learn to view with 

 clearer eyes and more reverent hearts those beings which, although less Godlike than ourselves in 

 their physical or moral natures, demand for that very reason our kindliest sympathies and most in- 

 dulgent care. For we, being made in the image of God, are to them the visible representations of 

 that Divine Being who gave the Sabbath alike for man and beast, and who takes even the sparrows 

 under His personal protection. 



VOL I.-N. K. 





