216 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. ix. 



tions. The work of Agassiz mentions more than one 

 thousand fossil fishes, with descriptions and beautiful 

 plates, which make them known almost as well as if 

 we were able to observe them alive. 



" This work brought its author complimentary dis- 

 tinctions from several academies and learned societies. 

 Particularly during a journey in England and Scotland 

 all the collections were open to him, assistance in vari- 

 ous ways was offered, and he had the great satisfaction 

 of seeing with what astonishing precision the numerous 

 new facts which he daily observed confirmed all his 

 previous conclusions. The English and Scotch geolo- 

 gists for many years kept the remembrance of some 

 keen anecdotes on the subject. 



" Agassiz's researches opened a new path, through 

 which he continued to advance, publishing in the mean- 

 time supplements to his main work ; among them, a 

 ' Monographic des Poissons du vieux gres rouge,' which 

 was soon followed by one on the ' Poissons de 1'Argile 

 de Londres.' The first of these monographs furnished 

 some interesting results, both geological and zoological ; 

 in particular, it demonstrated two most important laws : 

 ist, the analogy existing between the first condition of 

 the embryos of fishes and the organization of fossil 

 fishes of the oldest epochs ; 2d, the parallelism exist- 

 ing between the embryologic development of the fishes 

 and the succession of the different types of these ani- 

 mals in the series of formations." 



There is nothing to add regarding the great value of 

 this "vaste publication," as it is called by Pictet ; but 

 a few words are necessary to indicate some of the criti- 



