354 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the other Digitigradous. The latter of these branches runs through the 

 cat, leopard, and dog, where it ends; the other, that of the plantigradous, 

 runs through Nasua, Procyon (raccoon), bear, to the cynocephalous mon- 

 key, and through the higher monkeys to man. In this latter series, we 

 would call the attention of naturalists particularly to the bear, as the inter- 

 mediate link between carnivorous animals and monkeys. When we con- 

 sider the mixed animal and vegetable food of the bear, its manner of life, 

 and general habits, its climbing and embracing propensities, for in the 

 bear we find an arm capable of embracing, as in the monkey, and when 

 we observe its manner of standing upright on its plantigradous feet, which 

 is evidently connected with the use of the fore legs as arms, there can be 

 no doubt that the bear fills out that gap wnich seems to exist between car- 

 nivorous animals and monkeys. Such is the carnivorous seiles. 



Parallel to this, and analogous to it, runs a herbivorous series; beginning 

 with the Zeuglodous, and running through Sirenoids, Morse, Dinotherium 

 to Anoplotherium. Here it divides into two, the Pachyderms and Rumi- 

 nants, and thus Owen was right when he said that the Anoplotherium 

 includes the characters of Ruminants and Pachyderms. From Anoplothe- 

 rium starts on one side the Ruminant series, running through camel, cow, 

 antelope, deer, and on the other side the Pachyderm series, running from 

 Anoplotherium to Palreotherium and Tapir. At this point we have another 

 division into the series of horses, which culminates in our domesticated horse, 

 and the series of hogs, which embraces rhinoceros, elephants, and hogs. 



Among Birds, there are at least four series ; one starting from the ostriches, 

 and ending with the Gallinacese (I would remark, in passing, upon the 

 striking similarity which exists between the ostrich and the young of the 

 domestic fowl); a second beginning with the pelican, and ending with the 

 Gallinula, a wader; a third beginning with the hawks, and ending with the 

 singing-birds; a fourth beginning with Rhamphastos, and ending with the 

 parrot; another beginning with the Buceros, and ending with the swallow 

 and humming-bird. 



In Reptiles, there appears to be but one series, snakes, lizards, and tur- 

 tles; the snakes, moving by the dorsal column, and having head, neck, 

 trunk, and tail united in one continuous body, are analogous to the whales 

 and the Sirenoids. The lizards, provided with a distinct neck, trunk, and 

 tail, and with legs, are analogous, the lower ones, the Anguiformes, to the 

 seals, the higher to Lutra and Marten. In the turtles, the distinction of 

 parts is earned still further; the head and neck are very free, the trunk, 

 which in lizards assists in locomotion, is scarcely used for this purpose, 

 and the four legs are the locomotory organs. In the class of Batrachia we 

 have again the same series. Ca?cilia is- snake-like, and wholly analogous to 

 the snakes and to whales. Icthyoids and Salamanders, provided with small 

 or well-developed legs, are wholly analogous to lizards, and the frogs and 

 toads to turtles. In frogs and toads, also, the four legs are the only organs 

 of locomotion, but the neck and head are not as free as in tin-ties. This 

 goes far to prove that the class of Batrachians ranks lower than that of 

 Reptiles. 



ON THE EMBRYOLOGY OF THE SKATE. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, the presi- 

 dent, Professor Wyman, gave an account of some observations which he had 

 made upon ihe formation of the peculiarly-shaped egg-case of skates. 



