72 REVIEWS. 



the complete character of the Genus, and of every higher group, in direct 

 ascending Series, and something more. In Direct ascending Series — we 

 repeat — for the Character of some genus, in another, i.e. Collateral series, 

 may embrace more numerous marks than that of a Species not subordinate 

 to it. Practically, too, it is the character that determines the idea of the 

 species, which is then of the same sort as that of genus, &c, and applied in 

 the same way, so that it is hard to tell why the one should be said to have 

 a real existence more than the other. 



It is, of course, only in one point of view that Burmeister disputes the 

 existence of Natural groups. That there are natural groups, according to 

 the perceptions of our own minds, seems to need no further proof than the 

 universal method of human language (admissible evidence in a question of 

 this nature), and the fact of our being able to make any true general pro- 

 positions concerning the things we observe in nature, of such a sort as 

 form the basis of Burmeister's own graphic sketches, which, if sufficiently 

 divested of technical affectation to be both attractive and intelligible to all 

 who have availed themselves of the advantages of a liberal education, are, 

 at the same time, imbued with such intrinsic learning, that the most advanced 

 need not disdain to study them, for the sake of their own proficiency as 

 well as delight. 



We fear our readers will think we have been prolix in this dry discussion 

 of the point on which we have ventured formally to dissent from the view 

 that Burmeister has taken here. We find a much more agreeable employ- 

 ment in turning to the body of the work, to which we can offer the meed of 

 almost unqualified commendation. The matter here is too condensed — the 

 phrase too pregnant — to admit of further abridgment for the purpose of a 

 review. As a specimen of the author's manner, we extract the concluding 

 section of the history of the Polyps : — 



" The study of the formation of corals at the epochs anterior to history, 

 or, if another form of expression is preferred, in pre-Adamitic times, is a 

 subject of the deepest interest for the geologist. It shows him the won- 

 derful activity of these minute creatures on the largest scale, while it proves 

 the complete agreement of organization between the most ancient Polyps and 

 those in being at the present time. In all periods, going back to the most 

 remote antiquity of the globe, there have been Polyps in our terrestrial 

 seas, at least as long as organic life has existed on the earth at all. It is 

 corals that furnish the most ancient evidence that the earth was inhabited 

 long before the beasts came into existence. The organization of these 

 primitive corals agrees completely with those now living. We meet, indeed, 



