106 PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



white, black, red, etc., or, according to locality, into Eastern, 

 Northern, Southern, etc. 



Besides this we are able by means of our system to learn the 

 name of an animal new to us; and if it is one that has never 

 before been named and recorded, we can soon learn this, 

 give it a name, and add it to the list. Furthermore, scientists 

 are at all times making detailed studies of the animals already 

 known and are constantly rearranging them so as to establish 

 their kinship. 



Value of Classification as Mental Training. The study of 

 classification if carried out in the laboratory will influence one's 

 entire life. It will teach one to make observations and com- 

 parisons and to do so with accuracy. It will also teach the value 

 of arranging facts systematically a lesson which, once learned 

 regarding animals, will be applied to other things throughout 

 life. 



Necessity of Scientific Terms. Many people do not under- 

 stand why scientific terms are necessary, since our common ani- 

 mals are known by plain English names, such as horse and robin. 

 Science, however, does not recognize the boundaries of nations 

 but is world-wide, and we must be able to understand the writings 

 of the Germans, French, and others, as well as those in our own 

 language. For this reason scientific terms are the same all over 

 the world. They are Latin in form, and derived chiefly from 

 the Latin and Greek. 



In many cases the scientific term is simply the Latin name of 

 the animal ; for example, the American toad is known everywhere 

 as Bufo americanus, bufo meaning toad in Latin, and ameri- 

 canus, American. Some animals are named because of their 

 geographical distribution, like the California sea lion, Zalophus 

 ' calif ornianus, which lives in that region. Or the name may de- 

 scribe the animal in some way. The rufus in the wildcat's 

 name, Lynx rufus, is descriptive of the animal's rufus color, 

 and the sapiens in the name of man, Homo sapiens, is the Latin 

 word meaning wise and describes his mental condition. And 



