PREFACE. 



This little book is a kind of guide-book for readers 

 who are about to begiu the study of Zoology. It 

 aims at supplying a simple outline sketch, of the 

 animal kingdom, so as to enable the reader to map 

 in, as it were, his own particular field of study in its 

 right place in the general scheme of zoological know- 

 ledge. It is also intended to guide the reader to the 

 use of standard works. A story has been told of a 

 working man who saved up money enough to buy 

 an expensive work on natural history, and of his 

 disappointment, when he found that much of it was 

 obsolete and the whole of it old-fashioned. It is 

 to prevent disappointments of this sort that this little 

 book is intended. I have given a list of text-books 

 and other literature of the subject, which, though far 

 from exhaustive, practically includes everything that 

 can be useful to the readers for whom I have written, 

 and very likely a great deal more. 



In compiling the book, I have had lively recollec- 

 tions of my own experiences in preparing for the 

 Cambridge Higher Local Examination more than a 



b 



