iv PREFACE 



animals of the various regions make it impossible to in- 

 clude in a book intended for general use specific direc- 

 tions for field-work. Further, the amount of time for 

 field-work at the disposal of teacher and class and the 

 opportunities afforded by the topographic character of the 

 region in which the schools are located vary much. The 

 initiation and direction of this must therefore always de- 

 pend on the teacher. On the other hand, the work of the 

 other two phases of study can to a large extent be made 

 pretty uniform throughout the country. For dissection, 

 specimens properly killed and preserved are about as 

 good as fresh material, and by modifying the suggested 

 sequence of work a little to suit special conditions or con- 

 veniences, the examination of live specimens in the 

 laboratory can in most cases be accomplished. 



The author believes that elementary zoological study 

 should not be limited to the examination of the struc- 

 ture of several types. The student should learn by 

 observation something of the functions of animals and 

 something of their life-history and habits, and should be 

 given a glimpse of the significance of his particular ob- 

 servations and of their general relation to animal life as a 

 whole. The drill of the laboratory is perhaps the most 

 valuable part of the work, but as a matter of fact the high 

 school is trying to teach elementary zoology, an ele- 

 mentary knowledge of animals and their life, and dissec- 

 tion alone cannot give the pupil this knowledge. On the 

 other hand, without a personal acquaintance with animals, 

 based on careful actual observations of their life-history 

 and habits and on the study of the structural characters of 

 the animal body by personally made dissections, the 

 pupil can never really appreciate and understand the life 

 of animals. Reading and recitation alone can never 

 give the student any real knowledge of it. 



The book is divided into three parts, of which Part I 



