The winners in life's race

Transcriber’s Note
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THE WINNERS IN LIFE’S RACE
OR THE GREAT BACKBONED FAMILY.
BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY, AUTHOR OF “THE FAIRYLAND OF SCIENCE,” ETC.
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET, 1883.
Although the present volume, as giving an account of the vertebrate animals, is a natural sequel to, and completion of, my former book, Life and her Children , which treated of invertebrates , yet it is a more independent work, both in plan and execution, than I had at first contemplated.
This arises from the nature of the subject. The structure and habits of the lower forms of life are sufficiently simple to be treated almost without reference to geological history. When, however, I began to sketch out the lives and structure of the vertebrate animals, which are so closely interlinked one with another and yet so sharply separated into groups, I soon found that I must carry my readers into the past in order to give any intelligible account of the present.
In order to treat so vast a subject simply and within narrow limits, it has often been necessary to pass lightly over new and startling facts. I trust, however, it will not be inferred that such passages have been lightly or carelessly written, for in all cases I have sought, and most gratefully acknowledge, the assistance of some of our best authorities; and I have endeavoured that what little is said upon difficult subjects shall be a true foundation for wider knowledge in the future.
Among the many friends who have rendered me valuable assistance, I cannot sufficiently express my obligations to Professor W. Kitchen Parker for his unwearying kindness in explaining obscure points of anatomical structure, and to my friends Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, Professor A. C. Haddon of Dublin, and Mr. Garnett of the British Museum, for constant suggestion and encouragement. I am also indebted to Mr. J. P. Anderson of the British Museum for aid in the arrangement of the Index.