CHAPTER XXIX 

 THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF ANIMALS 



Problems : I. To determine the uses of animals : 

 (a) Indirectly as food, 

 (h) Directly as food. 



(c) When domesticated. 



(d) In yielding raw material for clothing. 



(e) In other direct economic ways. 



(/) In destroying harmful plants and animals. 



II. To determine the harm done hy animals : 



(a) In destroying animals used for food. 



(b) In injuring crops and gardens. 



(c) In injuring fruit and forest trees. 



(d) In destroying stored food and clothing. 



(e) Directly harming man. 



Laboratory Suggestions 



The laboratory portions of this chapter must be largely museum and refer- 

 ence work. The work should be varied and opportunity should be given for 

 laboratory exercises based on original sources. The pupils should use reports 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Biological Survey, vari- 

 ous State Reports, and others. 



Special honie laboratory reports may well be made at this time, for example : 

 To find out at a local fish market which fish are cheap and fresh at a given 

 time. Give reasons for this condition. Study conditions in the meat market 

 in a similar manner. Other local food conditions also may be studied. Sur- 

 veys can be made of insect pests found in the locality, of the birds which are 

 common, of the food the birds eat, and other surveys of a similar nature. 



Indirect Use of Animals as Food. — Just as plants form the food 

 of animals, so some animals are food for others. Protozoa and 

 many forms of tiny plants, which are swarming near the surface 

 of bodies of fresh and salt water, form the food supply of many 

 forms of life. These tiny organisms are known collectively as 



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