210 Royal Institution. 



tortd, varicihus quinque sexve indistinctis ; anfractihus Uris an- 

 gustis elevatis clathratis ; albido-lutescente, epidermide sericd 

 indutd ; columelld profunde excavatd, rugosd, subobsolete nmhili- 

 catd, callositatibus plurimis superne armatd, rufo-aurantid; labro 

 piano -concavo, rufo-aurantio radiato, intus fortiter rugoso-dentato. 

 Conch. Icon., Triton, \A. 20. f. 102. 

 Hab. Island of Mindanao, Philippines ; Cuming. 

 I have long hesitated to consider this shell any other than a variety 

 of the Triton cancellinus : the differences, though slight, seem how- 

 ever to remain constant. It is uniformly of smaller size, the trans- 

 verse ridges are not duplicate, and the colour and wrinkled denticu- 

 lations of the columella and outer lip are of a peculiar and distinct 

 character. 



ROYAL INSTITUTION. 



Feb. 14, 1845,— W. R. Hamilton, Esq., V.P. and Treasurer, in the 



Chair. 

 Professor E, Forbes delivered a lecture " On some important Ana- 

 logies between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms." 



The Professor commenced by briefly adverting to the distrust with 

 "which, as he was well aware, speculations on the analogies of ani- 

 mated beings were regarded, especially among British naturalists-. 

 He stated his own firm persuasion, however, that the transcendental 

 philosophy of natural history was one of the most important deve- 

 lopments of that science. 



He proceeded to represent the relations on which he was about to 

 discourse as consisting, — 1. Of the relation of analogy, depending on 

 the manifestation of common laws relating to animals or vegetables 

 composing a species, or else to the groups under which species are 

 assembled ; and 2. Of the relation of polarity, depending, not on the 

 resemblance, but on the opposition or divergence of beings composing 

 the animal and vegetable kingdoms. This relation of polarity was 

 thus illustrated. The animal is superior in structure and function 

 to the vegetable ; yet, from whatever point of the vegetable kingdom 

 we may begin, we cannot proceed by a series of continually advan- 

 cing organisms to the highest point of the animal. Thus, instead of 

 finding, as we might expect a priori, the most perfectly developed 

 vegetable bearing the closest resemblance to the lowest animal form, 

 we find, on the contrary, that it is at the lowest points of both sy- 

 stems (the Sponges, &c. in the one, and the marine Fuciin the other) 

 that the closest resemblance exists. Reverting to the relation of 

 analogy y the Professor noticed that every composite organism, as, for 

 instance, a plant in flower, was not a single being, but a combination 

 of individuals ; that each leaf, in its ordinary form, was an individual, 

 serving one purpose (that of maintaining the existence of the plant), 

 but that, for the purpose of reproduction, it was transformed into 

 flower, petal, stamen, pistil, &c. This metamorphosis was first de- 

 clared by Linnseus in the * Philosophia Botanica,' then maintained 

 by Wolf, and still later by the poet Goethe ; and as this principle of 

 morphology had been generally accepted by botanists, the Professor 

 now applied it to zoology. Among the lowest zoophytes there are 



