PREFACE Vii 
The book has been divided into three parts—the first dealing 
with Plant Life, the second with Animal Life, and the third with 
Minerals and Rocks. It is not to be supposed that the outlined 
treatment of these is the only one possible. Indeed, it is hoped 
that the chief effect of much of what has been written will be to 
suggest the kind of treatment needed, rather than to furnish 
working details. These it was, of course, necessary, to describe, 
but other ways of dealing with the same things will no doubt be 
employed, and other phases of the subject investigated. 
Vegetable, animal, and mineral products have only been lightly 
touched on; the work of the sea, of rivers, and of ice, the 
movements of the earth’s crust, the functions discharged by lakes, 
the manifestations of volcanic activity (all of which can be so 
well illustrated in various parts of these islands) have hardly been 
mentioned at all, as the book has grown beyond the limits origin- 
ally planned. The notes at the end of most of the chapters, it is 
hoped, will prove helpful in suggesting methods of dealing with 
the topics contained therein. Most of the plants referred to in 
Part I. are introduced forms. These have been chosen because of 
the greater readiness with which they can be obtained. Those 
teachers whose work Hes in districts accessible to native bush, 
will find little difficulty in adapting the work to suit the 
conditions of their environment. 
Through the kindness of the publishers, I have been able to 
include illustrations from Animals of New Zealand and other 
books. For much of the subject-matter in the chapter on native 
birds I am indebted to the work of Captain F. W. Hutton and 
Mr. James Drummond (Animals of New Zealand). I have also to 
acknowledge the courteous assistance of Mr. D. Petrie, M.A., 
F.L.S., in the chapter on grasses. 
The drawings for the plant and animal diagrams are from the 
pen of Mr. R. Carr. 
