Transcribe Illustrated descriptive catalogue of school series of skeletons (1881)

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SCHOOL SERIES OF SKELETONS.

The Animal Kingdom * comprises all animate beings, those that 
live, grow and move; voluntary movement being their most distinctive 
feature. Their primary divisions are Vertebrata and 
Invertebrata, the former characterized by the possession of an 
internal skeleton, or frame of bone or cartilage, the latter by its 
absence. When hard parts are present in the Invertebrata, they 
are situated outside of the soft body. Vertebrata are further 
divided into Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. The 
Species is the unit of classification, and may be defined in Zoology
as an animal possessing certain characteristics peculiar to itself, 
which features are constantly reproduced in its offspring. A 
Genus is a group composed of species united by some peculiarity 
of structure not found in other animals, and in a like manner a 
Family consists of genera having the resemblance one to another, 
but differing too much to be more closely united. To illustrate 
this familiarly, we might say that a cent of 1880 belonged to the 
Family of cents, genus bronze, and species 1880. An Order embraces
families related by some fundamental, structural character. 
For example, the order Proboscidea is distinguished by possessing 
a trunk, upper incisors produced as tusks, and by molars of great 
complexity. Finally, the orders forms Classes, a Class containing 
orders united by a common modification of structure among its 
members. +

For example, the Mammalia are charactered by a skull with 
two condyles, joining a neck of seven vertebrae, and by a lower jaw 
of but two pieces which articulates directly with the cranium.

____
* The term Animal is, in popular parlance incorrectly applied to Mammals
alone, and it is common to hear a person speak of Birds and Animals.

+ Agassiz says: " A class may be defined as the mode of execution of the 
plan" of structure.

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                    SCHOOL SERIES OF SKELETONS.

The Animal Kingdom * comprises all animate beings, those that live, grow and move; voluntary movement being their most distinctive feature. Their primary divisions are Vertebrata and Invertebrata, the former characterized by the possession of an internal skeleton, or frame of bone or cartilage, the latter by its absence. When hard parts are present in the Invertebrata, they are situated outside of the soft body. Vertebrata are further divided into Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, and Species. The Species is the unit of classification, and may be defined in Zoology as an animal possessing certain characteristics peculiar to itself, which features are constantly reproduced in its offspring. A Genus is a group composed of species united by some peculiarity of structure not found in other animals, and in a like manner a Family consists of genera having the resemblance one to another, but differing too much to be more closely united. To illustrate this familiarly, we might say that a cent of 1880 belonged to the Family of cents, genus bronze, and species 1880. An Order embraces families related by some fundamental, structural character. For example, the order Proboscidea is distinguished by possessing a trunk, upper incisors produced as tusks, and by molars of great complexity. Finally, the orders forms Classes, a Class containing orders united by a common modification of structure among its members. +

For example, the Mammalia are charactered by a skull with two condyles, joining a neck of seven vertebrae, and by a lower jaw of but two pieces which articulates directly with the cranium.

____

The term Animal is, in popular parlance incorrectly applied to Mammals

alone, and it is common to hear a person speak of Birds and Animals.

+ Agassiz says: " A class may be defined as the mode of execution of the plan" of structure.