28 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS 



To put all this in a simpler form, we would say that indi- 

 viduals are groupetl together to form species, species to 

 form a genus, genera to form a family, families to form an 

 order, orders to form a class, and classes to form a branch. 



The following table illustrates the classification of the 

 domestic cat: 



Kisi;dom, Aniinalia. All animals. 

 Branch, (JJiorduta. Having a iiotochord. 



Class, Matnnndia. Having niilii glands and suckling young. 

 Order, Carnirora. Eating tlesh. 



Family, Felidce. Having sharp, retractile claws. 

 Genus, F(dif!. Cnt, lion, tiger, leopard, etc. 

 Species, FvUs domvufiru. Duniestie cat. 



As we said before, in our 

 study of animals we shall find 

 a kinship existing throughout 

 the animal kingdom. More 

 than that, we shall also find 

 a step-by-step progress from 

 tne lowest to the highest. 

 This very important point 

 will be brought out more 

 clearly farther along, but can 

 best be represented here by a 

 tree diagram. By the latest 

 authority, the animal king- 

 dom is divided into twelve 

 great branches; but for the 

 sake of simplicity we ha\-e 

 grouped four of these into 

 one — the woi-nis — in the 

 diagram (Fig. 9). 



Fig. 9. — Diacfam illustrating 

 cla«sitication. 



