no THE ANIMALS AND MAN 



closely related to the crabs and crayfishes and the other 

 Crustaceans than to any other animals, although in adult 

 condition it does not at all, at least in external appearance, 

 resemble a crab or lobster. 



Scientific names. — To classify animals then, is to deter- 

 mine their true relationships and to express these relation- 

 ships by a scheme of groups. To these groups proper names 

 are given for convenience in referring to them. These 

 proper names are all Latin or Greek, simply because these 

 classic languages are taught in the schools and colleges of 

 almost all the countries in the world, and are thus intelligible 

 to naturalists of all nationalities. In the older days, indeed, 

 all the scientific books, the descriptions and accounts of 

 animals and plants, were written in Latin, and now most of 

 the technical words used in naming the parts of animals and 

 plants are Latin. So that Latin may be called the language 

 of science. For most of the groups of animals we have 

 English names as well as Greek or Latin ones and when 

 talking with an English-speaking person we can use these 

 names. But when scientific men write of animals they use 

 the names which have been agreed on by naturalists of all 

 nationalities and which are understood by all of these natural- 

 ists. These Latin and Greek names of animals laughed at 

 by non-scientific persons as "jaw-breakers," are really a 

 great convenience, and save much circumlocution and 

 misunderstanding. 



AN EXAMPLE OF CLASSIFICATION. 



Technical Note. — There should be provided a small set of bird- 

 skins which will serve just as well as freshly killed birds, and which 

 may be used for successive classes, thus doing away with the neces- 

 sity of shooting birds. The birds suggested for use are among the 

 commonest and most easily recognizable and obtainable. They may 

 be found in any locality at any time of the year. The skins can be 

 made by some boy interested in birds and acquainted with making 

 skins, or by the teacher, or can be purchased from a naturalists' sup- 

 ply store, or dealer in bird skins. The skins will cost about 25 cents 



