PREFACE. 



IN the present work, that is intended as a text. 

 book for schools and academies of all grades, the 

 design has been to present in concise and plain Ian. 

 guage, and in the light of the latest research and in- 

 vestigation, the life-histories of the various groups 

 that constitute the animal kingdom. Technical 

 terms have only been employed where there was 

 no simple equivalent, and the long tables of classi- 

 fication and formulas, that can only be understood 

 after a complete mastery of biological knowledge, 

 have been omitted, as tending to divert the atten- 

 tion of the student from the real issue. Professor 

 Huxley strikes the key-note of this question when 

 he says : " That the power of repeating a classifica- 

 tion, with all its appropriate definitions, has any- 

 thing to do with genuine knowledge, is one of the 

 commonest and most mischievous delusions of both 

 students and their examiners. The real business ot 

 the learner is to gain a true and vivid conception of 

 the characteristics of what may be termed the nat- 



86007 



