CLASSIFICATION. H> 



of the vertebrate animals, I instance the powers and loco- 

 motion of the Cephalopoda. 



In conclusion we observe, that Nature has put a veto on 

 any arrangement that shall be exempt from anomalies and 

 incongruities ; we must look at her largely as a class, with a 

 few well-marked divisions, and not be too sensitive about 

 Utopian details of strict natural order. We are prepared to 

 expect that the present scheme will follow the fate of every 

 other system of classification that has preceded it, however 

 great may be the authorities from which they have sprung. 

 It is universally admitted that the most accredited plans are 

 unsatisfactory, and I venture to predict, that to the end of 

 time our successors will make the same remarks. Mathema- 

 tical nature is not an attribute of this sphere ; the votaries of 

 that condition must seek for it 



" extra flammantia mcenia jmmcli." 



The synopsis of the genera, we again impress it, shows the 

 impossibility of such an arrangement. We have here perhaps 

 as much connective harmony as the Mollusca can receive. 

 We do not say that there may not be transpositions and cer- 

 tain modifications of the genera to meet the particular views 

 of malacologists, but the general outline may perhaps be as 

 near the truth as the subject will admit of. If zoologists 

 demand a natural line, they cannot have it without excluding 

 from the grand main various families. In consequence, our 

 classification, at certain points, presents incongruities that no 

 art can arrange satisfactorily, but they are brought as near to 

 each other as Nature will allow of. We must submit, as we 

 cannot alter her laws and dispositions. The fact of our line 

 not according a direct totality of strict affinities, proves that 

 Nature cannot be thus arranged, because the Supreme Creator, 

 w r hose handmaiden she is, has not invested her with the power 

 of effecting a symmetry beyond what she has accomplished. 



c 2 



