THE MODERN STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 7 



totally different system to that of Solomon ; the 

 several groups are now characterised not by their 

 habits or the media in which they live, but by 

 resemblances and differences in anatomical struc- 

 ture. The branch of zoology that treats of the 

 structure of animals is called Morphology; hence 

 Aristotle's classification may be contrasted with 

 that of Solomon as being not a classification by 

 distribution, but a morphological classification. 

 Inasmuch as the latter springs from a closer 

 and more accurate acquaintance with animals than 

 the former, it is a better and more scientific one 

 and may be taken as marking a distinct and very 

 important advance in the study of zoology. 



The next writer on zoology of any great 

 importance is the elder Pliny, who lost his life 

 A.D. 79, at the celebrated eruption of Mount 

 Vesuvius by which Pompeii and Herculaneum were 

 destroyed. Pliny was to a far greater extent than 

 Aristotle a professed zoologist, and left a volumin- 

 ous work on natural history in thirty-seven books. 

 He divided the animal kingdom into four main 

 groups, which he named as follows : 



1. Animalia terrestria ; 



2. Animalia aquatilia; 



3. Volucres ; 



4. Animalia insecta ; 



i.e. t he classified animals according as they lived on 

 the ground, in the water, or in the air; dividing 

 them into terrestrial, aquatic, and volatile, with a 

 distinct class for those animals, such as insects, 

 which do not belong to any element exclusively. 



