This textbook provides the foundation for a course in Zoology, or Natural History, as it is commonly termed; adapted to instruction in schools. The author's object has been to cull out from the immense mass of material which Zoology presents that which every well-informed person ought to know, excluding all which is of interest and value only to those who intend to be thorough zoologists. This study has a practical bearing upon many of the most valuable and extensive occupations of man, agriculture, horticulture, etc., but the grand practical benefit to be derived from the study of Natural History is the discipline which it gives the mental powers. It cultivates the perceptive and reasoning powers together, thus forming that habit of intelligent observation which makes its possessor, as a matter of course, a person of extensive general information, and is an essential element of success in almost any pursuit in which he may engage.