THE STUDY OF ANIMALS 9 



quadrupeds producing living young, egg -laying or oviparous 

 quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and whales), and four among the back- 

 boneless (molluscs, scaly animals, animals with soft scales, and 

 insects). 



Unfortunately, after the time of Aristotle zoology progressed 

 in a backward direction, and during the Middle Ages all sorts 

 of absurd ideas gathered around it. A fresh start was made by 

 Wotton (1492-1555), a native of Oxford who afterwards became a 

 London physician. He went back to the classification of Aristotle, 

 and from his own observations enlarged upon it. Further work in 

 the same direction was afterwards done by the Swiss professor, 

 Gesner (1516-65), and by the Englishman, John Ray (1628- 

 1705), work which led up to the better known and more extensive 

 labours of Karl von Linne, usually known by the name of Linnaeus 

 (1707-78). As professor of Natural History in the Swedish 

 university of Upsala, he wrote his System of Nature, which must 

 ever remain a classical work, and in which are laid down the 

 foundations of our modern classification. Comparing the plant 

 and animal worlds to armies, he instituted a series of subdivisions 

 named, beginning with the largest, class, order, genus, and species, 

 metaphorically equivalent to the legions, cohorts, maniples, and 

 contubernia of a Roman host. His animal classes were six in 

 number. Linnaeus also introduced the system of giving each 

 kind of animal a double name, the first being that of the genus, 

 the second that of the species. We find living in Britain, for 

 example, three kinds or species of hare-like animals, all belonging 

 to the genus Lepus, and called in popular language rabbit, hare, 

 and Alpine or Irish hare. The double scientific names of these 

 are respectively, Lepus cuniculus, Lepus timidus, and Lepus varia- 

 bilis. The utility of such names is obvious, for if in recording 

 observations on, say, the rabbit, we speak of it as Lepus cuniculus, 

 a zoologist of any nationality whatsoever will know to what animal 

 we are referring, while merely to employ the popular name might 

 lead to great confusion. It will be noticed that the first or generic 

 name is comparable to a surname, while the second or specific 

 name may similarly be compared to a Christian name. The 

 generic name is placed first merely as a matter of convenience, 

 just as in an official list of human beings, such as a list of voters, it 

 is found more convenient to give first place to the surname. By 

 universal consent, scientific names are almost entirely taken from 



