PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 



Vertebrate anatomy is ever)rwhere taught by the laboratory 

 method. The student studies and dissects representatives of several 

 classes, thus gaining an autoptic knowledge of the various organs and 

 their positions in these forms. These facts do not constitute a science 

 until they are properly compared and correlated with each other and 

 with the conditions in other animals. It is the purpose of the author 

 to present a volume of moderate size which may serve as a framework 

 around which these facts can be grouped so that their bearings may 

 be readily recognized and a broad conception of vertebrate structure 

 may be obtained. 



In order that this may be realized, embryology is made the basis, 

 the various structures being traced from the undifferentiated egg into 

 the adult condition. This renders it easy to compare the embryonic 

 stages of the higher vertebrates with the adults of the lower and to 

 recognize the resemblances and differences between organs in the 

 separate classes. There has been no attempt to describe the struc- 

 ture of any species in detail, but rather to outline the general mor- 

 phology of all vertebrates. To aid in the discrimination of the 

 broader features and the more minor details, two sizes of type have 

 been used, the larger for matter to be mastered by the student, the 

 smaller for details and modifications in the separate classes to which 

 reference may need to be made. 



Considerable space has been given to the skull, as there is no 

 feature of vertebrate anatomy which lends itself more readily to com- 

 parative study of the greatest value to the beginning student, while 

 the same specimens can be used in the laboratory year after year. 

 The skull also has a special interest since nowhere else is there the 

 same chance of tracing modifications in all groups since the first ap- 

 pearance of vertebrates on the earth. To aid in this, extinct as well 

 as recent species have been included. 



It was the desire of the author to adopt the nomenclature of the 

 German Anatomical Society ('BNA'), but this was often found im- 

 practicable. The BNA was based solely upon human anatomy and 

 it fails utterly in many respects when the attempt is made to transfer 



