Excerpt from A Manual of the Common Invertebrate Animals: Exclusive of Insects This manual has been written to supply the need which has been felt in this country for a long time of a book containing descriptions of the common invertebrate animals, by means of which their names and affinities can be determined. Excellent general manuals with analytical keys for the identification of the common insects already exist, but a person wishing to identify animals belonging to most of the other invertebrate groups must usually have recourse to technical papers and treatises which are for the most part inaccessible except to specialists. The book is intended more particularly for use in the eastern and central portions of the United States and Canada, and the endeavor has been made to include in it most of the common invertebrates except insects occurring in this region. In addition to these, representative species occurring in the western states and on the Pacific slope are included, as are also other species to which some special interest attaches and which are found in other parts of the world. Animals which inhabit the deep sea have not been included except in special cases where they are representative of their particular groups. The general plan of the book is similar to that of Leunis' Zoologie, a standard German work which has for two generations supplied the need of a general synopsis of animals in Europe, and has been extensively used elsewhere throughout the world. As in that work, the analytical tables and descriptions of species of each of the larger groups of animals are preceded by a morphological description of the group together with some account of the habits and distribution of the animals. In these descriptions all the technical terms appearing in the tables are explained. References to the principal authorities upon which the descriptions are based are given in footnotes, as are also references to important treatises and monographs which have appeared on the animals described. A knowledge of the historical basis of zoological names adds greatly to their significance and the author has consequently given a history of the nomenclature of each of the larger subdivisions of the animal kingdom in connection with the morphological description of it. A history of the general development of the system of classification since the publication of the tenth edition of Linnaeus' Systema Naturae and a brief survey of the progress of zoological studies in America are added in the Introduction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

So much has to be crammed into today's biology courses that basic information on animal groups and their evolutionary origins is often left out. This is particularly true for the invertebrates. The second edition of Janet Moore's An Introduction to the Invertebrates fills this gap by providing a short updated guide to the invertebrate phyla, looking at their diverse forms, functions and evolutionary relationships. This book first introduces evolution and modern methods of tracing it, then considers the distinctive body plan of each invertebrate phylum showing what has evolved, how the animals live, and how they develop. Boxes introduce physiological mechanisms and development. The final chapter explains uses of molecular evidence and presents an up-to-date view of evolutionary history, giving a more certain definition of the relationships between invertebrates. This user-friendly and well-illustrated introduction will be invaluable for all those studying invertebrates.