PREFACE 



IT has been the Author's design in this volume to 

 present in as simple a form as possible the leading 

 characters of Vertebrate Animals. All unnecessary 

 technicalities have been dispensed with, and explana- 

 tions have been given, either in the text or in the 

 glossary, of such terms as have been unavoidably 

 used. 



In a practical science such as Zoology, it is only 

 by the examination of specimens that any knowledge 

 of the science worth acquiring can be obtained, and 

 the function of a book is to assist in practical study. 

 This has been borne in mind in compiling these 

 pages. Great care has, moreover, been taken to select 

 only such facts for discussion as are of fundamental 



