CLASSIFICA TION. 



at different times sketched out by the master minds of science, 

 all of which have more or less fallen short of their great object. 

 Of these, the most useful and most generally adopted is that of 

 Cuvier, and as this will be more or less our guide throughout the 

 following pages, a knowledge of its leading features becomes in- 

 dispensable. 



According to the system of Cuvier, all living animals are divided 



intor 



ist. Those that have back-bones (vertebras) ; 



2nd. Those that have not back-bones. 



Those animals that have back-bones are called 



Vertebrate. 



Those that are without back-bones are called 



Invertebrate. 



The Vertebrate division includes 



Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. 



The Invertebrate division is much more numerous, and com- 

 prehends animals of very various construction. These are 



ist. Mollusks, or soft-bodied animals, such as cuttle-fishes, 

 snails, oysters, &c. ; 



2nd. Articulated Animals, or a'nimals enclosed in a jointed 

 skin, such as insects, spiders, and lobsters ; 



3rd. Radiated Animals, under which head are included all 

 the lowest and least perfect members of the animal kingdom 

 many of them having few characteristics in common. 



The completeness of the above classification, so far as it relates 

 to the more perfect animals, is generally admitted, and we shall, 

 therefore, take it as our guide ; but among the lower tribes of 

 creation such guidance fails us, and through this labyrinth we 

 shall have to make our way by the aid of more recent investiga- 

 tions. 



In the preceding paragraph, as the reader may have remarked, 

 we have spoken of " the more perfect animals " as contradistin- 

 guished from those of "the lower tribes ; " and, as we shall again 

 and again be obliged to have recourse to similar expressions, the 

 terms require some explanation. Every animal is perfect in its 

 kind, and to add to, or to take from, its attributes would deterio- 

 rate its usefulness in creation. By the perfect or imperfect struc- 

 ture of an animal, we simply mean Vhe degree in which it approxi- 

 mates to Man the type and pattern of zoological perfection : 

 just as in estimating the value of money, we take the highest 

 coin in the realm as a standard of comparison. Man, the paragon 



