6 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



groups still, which we call families. Thus, in the order of the 

 Beasts of Prey we have the families of the Cats, the Dogs, the 

 Bears, and the Seals; in the order of the Beetles we have the 

 families of the Water-beetles, the Long-horned beetles; and so 

 on. And these families answer, as it were, to the companies of 

 a regiment. 



If we were required to describe a lion, we could do so by 

 saj'ing, " It belongs to the family of the Cats, to the order of the 

 Beasts of Prey, to the class of the Mammals, and to the great 

 division of the Vertebrates ". 



In the same way, if we were asked to describe that pretty 

 green beetle which we sometimes find on willow trees, and which 

 smells so sweetly that it is called the " musk '' beetle, we could 

 say, " It belongs to the family of the Long-horns, to the oj'der of 

 the Beetles, to the class of the Insects, and to the division of 

 the Invertebrates". 



But in order to complete our 7iatnral arrangement, we must 

 carry out our simile of the army a little further. An army is 

 made up, as we have seen, of larger or smaller groups of men 

 which have certain distinguishing characteristics. But some are 

 more characterized than others. Some in each greater division 

 are "colonels", or "captains", or "sergeants". Now colonels, 

 captains, sergeants, or any specified officers, being smaller groups 

 than "families" of soldiers, might be described a.s genera; a^ gemis 

 being the group of colonels, or the group of captains, or of ser- 

 geants; i.e. all colonels are of one genus, all captains of another, 

 and so on. But then, of course, a colonel or captain might be of 

 this or that company of "foot", or "mounted", or otherwise, and 

 here we come to the end of our classification, for a captain of 

 the "foot" would be an individual of this or that kind; and a 

 colonel or captain of this or that kind would be a species; a 

 species is an individual kind of any genus. 



And so we have exactly carried out the plan of our imaginary 

 general. For all these divisions, and classes, and orders, and 

 families, and genera, and species, are marked by some feature in 

 the uniform ; that is, in the bodily characteristics of the different 

 beings represented. 



