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INTRODUCTION 



I HAVE divided the present edition of ANIMAL LIFE IN 

 AFRICA into three small volumes, each of them practically 

 self-contained and dealing respectively with : 



(1) The carnivorous or flesh-eating animals ; together 

 with chapters on apes, monkeys, baboons, and some 

 miscellaneous types ; 



(2) The hoofed herbivorous, or vegetable-eating animals; 



(3) Some of the birds, reptiles, and fishes. 



A table of classification has been added in the form 

 of an appendix to each volume. 



Since natural history terms are not in everyday use, 

 the following explanation of some of them may be found 

 useful. 



SPECIES : A group of animals which bear a very close 

 resemblance to one another with regard to the most 

 essential points of their bodily structure. Thus all 

 domestic cats, though individuals may differ in colour, 

 size and other points, are alike in the chief charac- 

 teristics of their structure, and belong to the same 

 species. 



GENUS (plural, genera) : A group of animals consisting 

 of one or more different species. Thus the lion 

 and the leopard belong to different species of the 

 same genus that of the true cats. Animals be- 

 longing to the same genus are not so closely alike 

 as those belonging to the same species, but they 



