1. We now begin to see that there is a scale of animal life, starting with the highest animal, man, and coming down gradually to the lowest forms of animal life.

2. The Animal Kingdom is divided first into two parts. The higher half includes those animals which have skulls and back-bones. The lower division takes in all those creatures without backbones.

3. In the higher division there are five classes of animals. First, the mammals, or sucklers, which are warm-blooded, and seem to be more or less covered with hair or fur. Secondly, the birds, which are also warm-blooded, but are produced from eggs and are covered with feathers.

4. Thirdly, the reptiles, which are produced from eggs, but are cold-blooded; they breathe by lungs and are sometimes covered with scales or plates. Fourthly, the double-lived creatures, such as frogs and toads, which live both on land and in

water; these are produced from eggs and are coldblooded; they breathe by gills when young and by lungs when mature. The fifth and last class of the higher animals is that of the fishes, which are cold-blooded and breathe by gills.

5. Of the second division of the Animal Kingdom, or those creatures without back-bones, we have already learned something. We know that softbodied animals have to be protected by shells, and that these outside shells give the shape to their bodies, quite as much as an inside skele

A PERIWINKLE.

6. Some have two shells, or two valves, and hence are called "bivalves," such as the oyster, the scallop and the mussel. Some have but one shell in a single piece, and are therefore known as "univalves," as the periwinkle and the whelk. 7. We have also learned something of the jointed animals, as the spiders, insects, crabs and worms. Then there is a third group; these are the rayed animals, or those that spread out in rays from a center, as the starfish does. Jellyfishes and zoophytes belong to this group of rayed animals.

8. Zoophyte is simply a hard-looking word which stands for "plant

A JELLYFISH.

animal," a name which reminds us that once they were supposed to fill the place between animals on the one hand and plants on the other. They really

do look very much like growing plants, and yet they have a mouth and a stomach, and feed as animals do.

9. Those boys and girls who are fortunate enough to have a trip to the seaside in the summer holidays, may take a stroll along the seashore to pick up seaweed, and to search for pretty shells. If they come to any rock pools, they may hunt for some of those wonderful animals which we know by the name of sea anemones.

LESSON 28.

PLANTLIKE ANIMALS.

PART 1.

storm'-i-est dis-ap-pears' splen'-did

search'-ing

spec'-i-mens nour'-ish-ment car'-ing

press'-ure

ten'-ta-cles eye'-sight

sing'-u-lar de-vour'-ing

bead'-let

twist'-ing

es-pe'-cial-ly e-ject'-ed

1. In searching for sea anemones, way should be made to a low-lying rock, and the best time will be when the tide is very low.

2. Peering into a rock pool, it is often easy to find a cluster of liver-colored specimens with pink rays, or feelers, or, to call them by their right name, "tentacles."

3. These rays are placed around the mouth, and

between them and the body is a row of blue beads which are sometimes mistaken for eyes. There is a thin line of the same bright blue around the base of the animal where it sticks to the rock.

4. This specimen belongs to one of the most common species, and because of its bright blue beads, this anemone is called the beadlet. It sticks to the rock by its flat base acting like a boy's sucker, and the stormiest sea cannot move it. Yet it can move itself by sliding along on its base somewhat as a snail does.

5. Clearly, an anemone is not a plant. It is not fastened to the rock by roots which gather up nourishment for it, as do plants which are rooted in the soil. The anemone has a body; it consists of a sort of fleshy bag, at the top of which is a small opening or mouth encircled by the rays which serve it as hands. Although it has a mouth it has neither head nor eyes; its mouth opens into its stomach, and its rays are such excellent feelers that it has no need for eyesight.

6. These singular organs are sometimes longer than the body, and are kept in constant motion, twisting about like so many young snakes. Whenever a shrimp or a small fish comes within reach, the rays secure it, the mouth then opens, and the prey disappears. A day or two afterwards the opens again, and the lifeless body is thrown

mouth