vi PREFACE. 



The thing to be done, therefore, was to organize a course 

 of practical instruction in Elementary Biology, as a first 

 step towards the special work of the Zoologist and Botanist. 

 But this was forbidden, so far as I was concerned, by the 

 limitations of space in the building in Jermyn Street, which 

 possessed no room applicable to the purpose of a labora- 

 tory ; and I was obliged to content myself, for many years, 

 with what seemed the next best thing, namely, as full an 

 exposition as I could give of the characters of certain plants 

 and animals, selected as types of vegetable and animal or- 

 ganization, by way of introduction to systematic Zoology 

 and Palaeontology. 



In 1870, my friend Professor Rolleston, of Oxford, pub- 

 lished his " Forms of Animal Life." It appears to me that this 

 exact and thorough book, in conjunction with the splendid 

 appliances of the University Museum, leaves the Oxford 

 student of the fundamental facts of Zoology little to desire. 

 But the Linacre Professor wrote for the student of Animal 

 life only, and, naturally, with an especial eye to the condi- 

 tions which obtain in his own University j so that there was 

 still room left for a Manual of wider scope, for the use of 

 learners less happily situated. 



In 1872 I was, for the first time, enabled to carry my own 

 notions on this subject into practice, in the excellent rooms 

 provided for biological instruction in the New Buildings at 

 South Kensington. In the short course of Lectures given 



