IV 
PREFACE 
flashes, creeps, and moves about them day and night. 
The fascination of the subject itself, the quick, vivid 
rewards that come with knowing , are a tremendous 
stimulus in the direction of all education. 
The stories have been developed in elementary schools. 
Pedagogical approach and scientific accuracy have had 
equal consideration by the authors. They considered the 
children for whom they were writing as much as the 
subjects to be written about. It will be readily seen that 
they have not fully treated from a scientific standpoint 
all the topics introduced. They have written only the 
concepts that the child mind can easily grasp about a 
subject. A large museum directed by one of the authors, 
and the resources of Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, 
Texas, outstanding zoological and botanical garden of 
the South, made possible the completeness and accuracy 
of the book. 
The illustrations were made from real life. The artists 
worked with the authors, so that the stories and pictures 
were constructed as units. 
The vocabulary has been checked by the Thorndike 
Word List. Explanations of such scientific words as 
were necessary have been made in the stories when 
needed. 
