4,

ANIMALS OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE.

[Page 153.-1, Squirrel; 2, Puma, or Panther; 3, Black Wolf; Common or Virginia Deer; 5, Grizzly Bear, 6, Lynx; 7, Moose; 8, Beaver; 9, Bison (the American Buffalo); 10, Raccoon; 11, Black Bear; 12, Opossum; 13, Common Wolf; 14, Wild Cat; 15, Brown Bear; 16, Wapiti, or American Elk; 17, Otter; 18, Badger; 19, Common Fox; 20, Hare.]

1. You see in this picture twenty different animals. They live in that part of the earth called the temperate zone, where the climate is neither very hot nor very cold.

2. I will tell you something of these animals, and I hope you will study and learn much more about them than I can tell here.

3. You will see by looking at different animals, and by learning about their habits, that in many

instances where they do not look alike, they are in some respects very much alike.

4. There is an "order," or kind of animals of which we find none in this picture. They have four hands, or four claws which they use like hands. This kind is sometimes called the first order of animals. Such are monkeys and bats, which you can see in other pictures.

5. If you study carefully the animals here shown, you will see that there are twelve of them which are called "beasts of prey." These are alike in their mode of living. They all live upon the flesh of other animals, and are called the second order.

6. Can you tell which these twelve are that live on the flesh of other animals?

7. They are the puma or panther, the black wolf, the grizzly bear, the lynx, the raccoon, the black bear, the common wolf, the wild cat, the brown bear, the otter, the badger, and the fox.

8. In the third order are such as have hoofs instead of claws. In this picture we find, belong. ing to this class, the common or Virginia deer, the moose, the bison (often called buffalo), and the wapiti, or American elk, making four in all. 9. The fourth order is composed of gnawing animals, such as live on nuts, roots and fruits

Here are the squirrel, the beaver, and the hare, which are of this kind.

10. There is one strange fellow hanging by his tail, wound around a limb. In habits he is unlike any other animal found in America; but there are animals in other countries that are so nearly like him that they make another or a fifth order, called "pouched animals."

11. By this is meant that the mothers of this class have a kind of pouch or pocket, in which they carry about their young. The opossums vary greatly in size. The largest of them are about the size of a common cat, and the smallest are but little larger than a mouse.

12. We have thus far found that the animals represented on page 153 are divided into four different orders.

13. I wish the class to bring, at the next reading exercise, a list, nicely written, of five each of four-footed animals which belong to the second, third and fourth orders orders as here described. I do not wish you to include in your list any of those mentioned in this picture, and they must all belong to the temperate

zone.