PREFACE 



This volume is not intended to add anything to the science 

 of Zoology. It is not for the investigator, it is for the be- 

 ginner. The author has found that laboratory guides are 

 as a rule too dry and conventional to accomplish the best 

 results and he has accordingly attempted to make these 

 directions simple and suggestive as well as comprehensive. 

 The plan of these studies \yas worked out in the Manual 

 Training High School, Kansas City, Mo., where it was 

 thoroughly tested with students of all grades of the high 

 school. The book has also been tested in two Normal 

 Schools and in several high schools and has been found to 

 warrant the claims made for it. 



Information about animals comes to the child from three 

 sources, viz. : from a study of the animal itself, from a 

 study of the environment, from reference books and lectures 

 by the teacher. This book emphasizes the first and second 

 of these sources and it is expected that the teacher will see 

 that the third is not neglected. 



^ The author has gleaned from so many sources that it 

 would be impossible to acknowledge them all, but he desires 

 to make special mention of the assistance of his associate, 

 Mr. A. N. Young, on the Branch Vermes and on various 

 other parts of the book. All the tables of classification are 



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