SECTION I. 

 VERTEBRATES. 



CHAPTER I. 



British Mammals. 



WHAT is an animal ? A good many people, grown up as well as young, make 

 the mistake of answering this question by saying that an animal is a four- 

 footed creature. They would not, therefore, call a butterfly or a fish an 

 animal. But the fact is as any one would know who thought of the Latin 

 from which it is derived that the word animal applies to every living thing 

 except those of the Vegetable Kingdom, and we have to find some further 

 means of classifying them. 



The word Mammal is applied to all air-breathing animals that have warm 

 blood and suckle their young ; and of these there are still some fifty to sixty 

 species to be found in Great Britain and its seas. 



(i.) Mammals are subdivided into six chief orders: (i) Bats (Cheiroptera, 

 " hand-winged") ; (2) Hedgehog, mole, shrews (Insectivora) ; (3) Wild cat, fox, 

 pine marten, polecat, stoat, weasel, badger, otter, seals (Carnivora) ; (4) Squirrel, 

 dormouse, rats, mice, voles, hares, rabbits (Rodentia) ; (5) Deer (Ungulata) ; 

 (6) Whales and porpoises (Cetacea). These form the highest class in the list of 

 Vertebrates, and are followed by (ii.) Birds (Aves) ; (hi.) Reptiles (Reptilia) 

 lizards and snakes ; (iv.) Frogs, toads, and newts (Amphibians and Batrachians) ; 

 (v.) Fishes (Pisces). The lowest of all in the scale are lampreys and hag- 

 fishes, the latter to be found off the North Coast of Scotland and in the North 

 Atlantic. 



All the above are Vertebrates that is, possess backbones. Whales and 

 porpoises are true mammals, because they bring forth their young alive, and 

 suckle them like any other animal possessing mammce, or teats. Young 

 people, realizing this fact, will not be surprised that these creatures are not 

 included among the fishes, although they live in the sea. 



Where did they come from ? That is a question which arises sooner or 

 later. Where did the mammals of the British Isles come from ? 



It is impossible to answer with any certainty ; but the following is one 



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