CLASSIFICATIONS OF ZOOPHYTES. 439 



sary, and, as it was sufficient for his purpose, he followed 

 very closely that which had been proposed by Ray in his 

 Synopsis of British Plants.* In successive chapters he treats 

 of the vesiculated corallines (Sertulariadse), the tubular coral- 

 lines (Tubulariffi), of the celliferous (Oellariadse), and of the 

 articulated corallines (Corallina), of Keratophyta, of the Es- 

 chara, of the English corals, of sponges, of the Alcyonium, 

 and of tubular corals, under which head he describes several 

 of the more common tubicolous worms which are found on 

 our coast, and which have no relationship whatever to the 

 other subjects of his treatise. Looking back on this arrange- 

 ment from our present vantage ground, it appears disorderly 

 and very defective ; but when we reflect how imperfect the 

 knowledge of species was at that period, and how crude the 

 notions were on the nature and use of systems, we may find 

 much to commend in it. Some of the chapters indeed con- 

 tain a mixture of very dissimilar things, but others may be 

 justly considered as so many natural genera or families, which 

 subsequent naturalists had merely to subdivide and name. 



Linnseus — in every sense the first of systematists — pub- 

 lished the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758. In 

 it the avertebrate animals are arranged in two classes, In- 

 secta and Vermes, — and of the latter zoophytes, with the 

 exception of Actinia, which is placed amongst the mollusca, 

 form the last two orders, which he named Lithophyta and 

 Zoophyta. That we may appreciate the nature and value of 

 the changes proposed subsequently to his time, it will be 

 necessary to give the definitions of his orders and genera. 



I. " LITHOPHYTA Mollusca composita, basin solidam sedifi- 



cantia. 

 TuBiPORA Corallium tubis cylindricis. 

 MiLLEPORA Corallmm tubis obconicis teretibus. 

 Madrepora Corallmm tubis stellatis." 



II. " ZOOPHYTA Plantae vegetantes floribus animatis. 

 Isis Stirps radicata, lapidea, nuda, geniculis corneis. 

 GoRGONiA Stirps radicata, cornea, crustata, continua. 

 ALcroNiuM Stirps stuposa, corticata, continua. 

 TuBULARiA Stirps fistulosa, tunicata, subgeniculata. 



* Syn. Meth. Stirpium Brit. Edit. 3. Lond. 1724. 



