PREFACE. 



THIS work is prepared upon the same general plan as the 

 preceding books of the Series. Among the principal 

 features are: Brevity; directness of statement; such a 

 presentation of the subject as will lead the pupil to love the 

 study; frequent foot-notes, containing anecdotes, curious 

 facts, explanations, etc. ; a uniform system of analysis in 

 bold paragraph titles ; and a gradual introduction of scientific 

 terms and language, so as to fit the scholar to read zoological 

 literature. 



Believing that a description of a new animal withoiit a cut 

 is useless, the author has aimed to give a figure of each one 

 mentioned; accompanying it, where necessary, with minor 

 illustrations of functional peculiarities. In order not to dis- 

 courage the beginner with dry and dull anatomical details, 

 the text is largely occupied with biography, telling "how 

 animals act, think, and are mutually related ;" for a fact con- 

 cerning the adaptation, habits, etc., is as valuable and far 

 more interesting to the young, than one about some unpro- 

 nounceable bone or muscle. 



To lead, however, to closer observation, physiological dis- 

 tinctions are groupedin frequent paragraphs under the head 

 of General Characteristics, a section is given on Comparative 

 Anatomy, and numerous cuts of skeletons will enable any 

 teacher familiar with the subject to continue it as desired. 



The limits of the book compelled a selection to be made 

 from the numberless animal forms. Every order, however, 

 is named, with most of its families and many of the princi- 

 pal genera, each one illustrated by a cut and description of a 



