XU INTRODUCTION. 



woods, in the waters of the ponds and streams, and of 

 the shallow bays and ihlets of the sea, so that any one 

 with the least inclination toward the study of the 

 teeming world of animal and vegetable life can, at 

 slight expenditure of time, labor and money, learn the 

 naines and some of the structure of the common 

 things surrounding him. 



Such books, if correct and helpful, are worthy of 

 all praise. That there is a desire for such, even in 

 this fair land of ours, is evident by their importation, 

 and their appearance on the counters of the booksell- 

 ers and on the shelves of the public libraries. But 

 they are seldom adapted to our needs. Their de- 

 scriptions are commonly too general and diffuse; their 

 writers pay more attention to literary style than to the 

 imparting of definite information, and the text too 

 ■often bears internal evidence of having been made to 

 suit certain pictures owned and necessary to be uti- 

 lized by the publisher. That similar and better books 

 on the life in American fields and streams,- and on 

 American sea-shores, are so few is much to be regret- 

 ted. There should be small and untechnical hand- 

 books adapted to "all capacities, even the meane'st," 

 as our forefathers used to put it, and in all depart- 

 ments of animal and vegetable life; books in which 

 the beginner could learn the names of things. 



"I do beseech you, what is your name ?" is the oft 

 repeated question, not only by the beginner in the use 

 of the microscope, but by the more advanced student 

 in other departments of science. "Naming things," 

 says. Henry Van Dyke, "is one of the oldest and 

 simplest of human pastimes. Children play at it with 

 their dolls and toy animals. In fact, it was the first 



