PREFACE. 
Vertebrate anatomy is everywhere taught by the laboratory method. 
The student studies and dissects representatives of several classes, thus 
gaining an autoptic knowledge of the various organs and their positions 
in these forms. These facts do not constitute a science until they are 
properly compared and correlated with each other and with the condi- 
tions in other animals. It is the purpose of the author to present a 
volume of moderate size which may serve as a framework around which 
these facts can be grouped so that their bearings may be readily recog- 
nized and a broad conception of vertebrate structure may be obtained. 
In order that this may be realized, embryology is made the basis, 
the various structures being traced from the undifferentiated egg into 
the adult condition. This renders it easy to compare the embryonic 
stages of the higher vertebrates with the adults of the lower and to 
recognize the resemblances and differences between organs in the 
separate classes. There has been no attempt to describe the structure 
of any species in detail, but rather to outline the general morphology 
of all vertebrates. To aid in the discrimination of the broader features 
and the more minor details, two sizes of type have been used, the 
larger for matter to be mastered by the student, the smaller for details 
and modifications in the separate classes to which reference may need 
to be made. 
Considerable space has been given to the skull, as there is no 
feature of vertebrate anatomy which lends itself more readily to 
comparative study of the greatest value to the beginning student, 
while the same specimens can be used in the laboratory year after year. 
The skull also has a special interest since nowhere else is there the same 
chance of tracing modifications in all groups since the first appearance 
of vertebrates on the earth. To aid in this, extinct as well as recent 
species have been included. 
It was the desire of the author to adopt the nomenclature of the 
German Anatomical Society (‘BNA’), but this was often found im- 
practicable. The BNA was based solely upon human anatomy and 
it fails utterly in many respects when the attempt is made to transfer 
its terms to other groups. The single example of ‘transverse process’ 
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