PEEFACE 



THE present volume is designed to meet the needs of 

 the beginning student of zoology. Accordingly, technical 

 and scientific names have been avoided as far as possible, 

 and those used are fully explained in the text or elsewhere. 

 The opening chapters deal with the characteristics of living 

 things, and, in contrasting animals and plants, attempt to 

 bring into relief the distinguishing marks of all animals. 

 Then follows a discussion of the cell and protoplasm, pre- 

 paring the way for the examination of a series of animals 

 representative of each of the great groups, from the sim- 

 plest to the most complex. These are considered from the 

 view-point of structure ; but considerable attention is also 

 paid to the functions of their parts, to their habits and life- 

 history, so that while the representatives examined are, for 

 the sake of simplicity, relatively few in number, they are, it 

 is believed, thoroughly typical. Hence, with a knowledge 

 of the facts presented, the student should have a broad 

 view of the animal kingdom, and a foundation on which to 

 base future study and observation. It is perhaps unneces- 

 sary to add that from the study of books alone no one can 

 really make such knowledge his own. A personal acquaint- 

 ance with even a few animals in their native haunts, and 

 an understanding of the structure and the function of their 



