26 THE CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS 



hand, the tiger is much larger and stronger, its body is 

 differently marked, and the fur is more compact and glossy. 

 It is evident that these two animals are of a different kind, 

 or species, yet are very closely connected. In fact, they are 

 so closely related that they are placed in one and the same 

 group known as a genus. Again, the Hon and the leopard 

 are two distinct species of animals, but so closely related 

 to each other and to the tiger and domestic cat that they 

 are included in the same genus. A genus usually in- 

 cludes several closely related species, but it may consist 

 of one species only. 



How animals are named. — The scientific name of each 

 animal consists of two words taken from the Latin or Greek 

 languages, usually the former. The first word of the name 

 is the name of the genus to which the animal belongs. 

 The second word is the name of the species to which the 

 animal belongs. For example, the scientific name of the 

 domestic cat is Felis domestica, in which Felis indicates the 

 genus and domestica the species to which the cat belongs. 

 In hke manner the lion is known as Felis leo, the tiger as 

 Felis tigris, and the leopard as Felis pardus. This method 

 of naming animals tends to insure imiformity, because every 

 zoologist, no matter of what nationality, in writing of a 

 particular animal, uses the same name, thereby avoiding 

 confusion and, at the same time, indicatiug the precise 

 animal under discussion. 



Family. — If a wild cat and Canada l5Tix were compared 

 with a tiger and a house cat, we should find that they pos- 

 sessed similar eyes, walked in a similar manner, and had 

 similar mouths with whiskers on the upper lips. It is 

 evident that they are all catlike animals. On the other 

 hand, we should find that the lynx and wild cat differed 



