THE NEW GENEALOGICAL TREE 383 



concerning the derivation of the Cnidaria and of the position 

 of the Cnidaria in the animal system; in his humiUty he con- 

 siders himself not sufficiently competent to make any conclu- 

 sions in this respect. Neither does Carter come to any con- 

 clusion regarding the origin of the Eumetazoa even if he 

 admits that there are many points which seem to support the 

 plasmodial theory, and that the old interpretation was based 

 on the blastaea theory as it was proposed by Haeckel. I expect 

 that in future Carter will come to some conclusions 

 over these points, and that he will accept the idea that the 

 Cnidaria evolved from some ancestors which they had in 

 common with the Turbellaria, that he will accept the plas- 

 modial theory, and finally that he will find that these inter- 

 pretations agree best with the natural facts that have become 

 known till now. It is a fortunate sign that such a large number 

 of British zoologists have rejected the wrong interpretation 

 of the relation embryos: ancestors. The only thing which 

 remains to be accepted by them is the idea that the plank- 

 tonic larvae must be interpreted as ontogenetic stages that 

 had emerged secondarily as new forms which must not be 

 compared with the adult ancestral forms but only mutually 

 with each other. This is a necessary consequence of the right 

 interpretation of recapitulations as they must be understood 

 if they are not looked upon from the easily misleading stand- 

 point of the "fundamental biogenetic law." 



Among the more recent attempts to construct the animal 

 system, mention should be made of the genealogical tree as it 

 was proposed by Franz and Heberer (1943:291). From the 

 standpoint of bifurcations this system is certainly the most 

 extreme. The starting point is represented by the completely 

 hypothetical and improbable gastraea. The pair Coe- 

 lenterata: Coelomata is abandoned. The next lower stage, the 

 Parazoa : the Eumetazoa are also abandoned. All the Aletazoa 

 are divided into two groups, the Protostomia and the Deu- 

 terostomia. The consequences of such a classification can 

 rightly be considered as "horrible." Among the Coelenterata, 



