300 



PART IV. 



A FAMILIAR EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES 

 OF PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ZOOLOGY, WITH SUG- 

 GESTIONS FOR A PLAN OF STUDYING THE DETAILS 

 OF EACH DEPARTMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRACTICAL 



AND SCIENTIFIC NATURALISTS. QUALIFICATIONS FOR BOTH 



AS ACCURACY OF OBSERVATION PERSEVERANCE CON- 



; CENTRATION OF STUDY MEMORY. EVILS OF INDISCRIMI- 

 NATE COLLECTING. PLANS FOR COLLECTING RECOMMENDED. 



(366.) To those naturalists who have already acquired 

 a knowledge of the actual state of our science, and to 

 those few who are competent to extend its limits, we 

 have devoted a large proportion of this volume. But as 

 a much greater number of our readers will be students, 

 anxious to see the first principles of zoology explained 

 in familiar language, we feel that our labours may be 

 usefully directed to this object ; for it is desirable that 

 the rudiments of all sciences should be condensed and 

 simplified. There is, indeed, no " royal road" to zoo- 

 logy, any more than to other branches of sound know- 

 ledge ; but its first principles may be explained in 

 simple language, and illustrated by familiar examples ; 

 its difficulties may be smoothed by avoiding unnecessary 

 technicalities; and words and expressions, which may 

 perplex the beginner, may be rendered intelligible as 

 they occur, and thus become fixed upon the memory. 

 We shall, therefore, in the following pages, occasionally 

 adopt a style more colloquial than didactic ; we shall 

 converse rather than compose, and endeavour to smooth 

 that path of instruction which every student must tread 



