OF

ZOOLOGY.

BY

EDWARD S. MORSE, PH. D.,

LATE PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY AND ZOŐLOGY IN BOWDOIN COLLEGE.

"As for your pretty little seed-cups, or vases, they are a sweet confirmation of the pleasure
Nature seems to take in superadding an elegance of form to most of her works, wherever you
find them. How poor and bungling are all the imitations of art! When I have the pleasure
of seeing you next we will sit down-nay, kneel down if you will-and admire these things."
-[HOGARTH in a Letter to ELLIS.

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by

D. APPLETON & COMPANY,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

THE "First Book of Zoology" is expressly prepared for the use of pupils who wish to gain a general knowledge of the structure, habits, modes of growth, and other leading features concerning the common animals of the country.

Particular attention has been given to the lower animals, as these are more often neglected in text-books. Directions for collecting, the preparation of specimens for the cabinet, and the haunts of the animals to be studied are given, and the pupil is expected to study, with the book in one hand, and the specimens in the other. The figures illustrating this work, with a few exceptions, have been drawn from Nature by the author, and have been prepared with especial reference to their being copied by the pupil. To facilitate this the figures are made in outline, with the shaded side of the figure indicated by darker lines.

The necessity of the pupils copying (however poorly) the figures, either upon the slate, or upon paper, cannot be too strongly urged.

From his own experience, the author has learned that a specimen or figure may oftentimes be carefully studied, and yet only an imperfect idea be formed of it; but, when it had been once copied, the new points gained repaid all the trouble spent in the task.

It makes but little difference whether the pupil is proficient in drawing or not; it should be strenuously insisted upon by the teacher that the pupils copy, as far as possible, the figures contained in each lesson.

To collect in the field, to make a cabinet, and then to examine and study the specimens collected, are the three stages that naturalists, with few exceptions, have passed through in their boyhood.

If one recalls the way in which boys first manifest their taste for such studies, he will remember that first a few examples were brought together; a collection was made. It may have been birds'-eggs, insects, or shells; then little boxes, a case of drawers, or shelves, were secured to hold their treasures. In thus collecting and arranging and rearranging the cabinet, the eye becomes familiar with the outline and general character of the objects, and in this way the mind is finally prepared to comprehend the relations existing