PREFACE. 
Ir is now just twenty-five years ago when I was asked 
to write, for the use of the young, a book on Zoology 
which should be tolerably comprehensive, intelligible, and 
free from the conventional errors which had been handed 
down from one writer to another. Since that time the book 
has passed through many editions and now takes an entirely 
new shape, embodying the most recent discoveries in zoology, 
being much enlarged in size, and illustrated with many addi- 
tional engravings. If it should be as well received as its 
predecessors I shall be most satisfied. 
J. G W. 
