74 IIISTOTIY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



in former times the living subjects were seldom studied, or 

 even beheld, while dried specimens, showing only the skele- 

 ton, were allowed too much to influence the arrangement. 

 The inorganic parts were made the basis of definition, while 

 the figure and properties of the dead and shrivelled occupants 

 were scarcely thought of. \Ye find Dr. John Fleming la- 

 menting this and doing much to correct it. And in refer- 

 ence to that branch of natural science to which our atten- 

 tion is at present turned. Sir J. Graham Dalyell also says, 

 '•^Dr. George Johnston, in a comprehensive and excellent 

 work on the subject, has gone far to rectify this defect by 

 arranging the zoophytes with due attention to the nature 

 of the animals belonging to them. That author is entitled 

 to the greater merit from the labour and difficulty of ac- 

 complishing such a task, for it has exacted equal skill and 

 industry.'''' 



To Dr. Fleming and Dr. Johnston I am chiefly indebted 

 for any knowledge I have of zoophytes. The latter of these 

 gentlemen has written more recently, and I shall adopt his 

 arrangement. 



Zoophytes, Dr. Johnston states, are referable to two of 

 the primary divisions of the animal kingdom — the Kadiate, 

 and the Molluscan, — and consequently constitute two classes 



