Agricultural education is making such rapid strides in this country, that no apology is needed for translating a book which appears to fill a gap, especially as it is written by a well-known authority. Dr. Ritzema Bos has kindly allowed certain small alterations to be made which adapt the work to the requirements of British agriculture. Additions are indicated by square brackets, and small print employed in the case of some non-British animals. A few forms have been omitted for similar reasons. Constant reference has been made to the published works of Miss E. A. Ormerod, who has added to my obligation by writing an Introduction, and I also wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. J. H. Salter, B.Sc., and Mr. J. Dawson Roberts, M.R.C.V.S., for kind help given by them. J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS. ABERYSTWYTH, _May, 1894_ INTRODUCTION. By request of Professor Ainsworth Davis, the skilled translator of this “handy-book” on “Agricultural Zoology,” I add some words of introduction; and I have especial pleasure in so doing: not that any observations of mine can add value to the work of the well-known author, but because, having myself had the advantage for many years of colleagueship, and important help in my own work from the assistance of Dr. Ritzema Bos, I am well acquainted both with his extensive knowledge and also his scrupulous care in observation, and I believe that this abstract of his larger work, now given in a form in which it is available for general use, will meet a great need. We have long wanted a book, plain in wording, and of moderate size, dealing with the wild animals or animal infestations generally which occur in connection with farm life—a manual, in fact, which, whilst suitable for the use of agricultural students and teachers, should at the same time not be too technically scientific to be intelligible to practical farmers or to general readers. In the pages of the present volume a very serviceable amount of information will be found to be embodied. So far as can be arranged in the limited space the chief characteristics of the main divisions of the animal kingdom are given, from the _Vertebrata_—including descriptions of some of our most notable forms of what may be popularly described as beasts, birds, and reptiles,—to the _Arthropoda_, including information on a most serviceable amount of insect infestation; also regarding Mites, Ticks, etc. These are followed by the _Vermes_, including, among other families of the _Nematoda_, the eelworms which cause so much injury to crop growth; and these are followed by the intestinal tapeworms and the fluke.