INTRODUCTION 



IN the pages of this volume I have endeavoured to place before 

 my readers in as simple and non-technical language as the theme 

 permits (though the entire avoidance of technical terms has been 

 neither possible nor desirable), the wonderful story of the gradual 

 evolution of animal life, from the simplest unicellular organism 

 to the most complex type. I have aimed to give a broad survey 

 of the animal kingdom, describing only those creatures most 

 typical or possessing some characteristic trait, from each divi- 

 sion, rather than giving what in the space at my command would 

 be the briefest possible description of a large number of animals. 

 In this way each great division of the animal kingdom is placed, 

 as it were, in a series of tableaux before the reader, the whole 

 forming a pageant of animal life. 



The study of animal life is full of interest and fascination, 

 opening up new fields for investigation the farther one advances, 

 always becoming more and more deeply absorbing as one's know- 

 ledge and experience increase. There is so much one would 

 desire to know, and so short a time in which to accomplish it. And 

 to-day, how infinitely wider and more interesting is our outlook 

 upon the study of animal life ! A hundred years ago, he who 

 could correctly name and classify the largest number of speci- 

 mens under their respective divisions was considered the greatest 

 authority, though probably he had never seen any of them alive in 

 their natural habitat. Classification specie-mongering one might 

 almost call it, with a total disregard for the importance of study- 

 ing the living animal and its environment was the almost uni- 

 versal order of the day. Indeed, the few men who had heard 



