STRUCTURE OF THE LANCELOT. 47 



enjoyed; and yet it cannot be doubted, that to 

 Mr. Goodsir, who obtained two specimens, pro- 

 cared on the Manx coast, from Mr. Forbes, we 

 are chiefly indebted for a full and lucid descrip- 

 tion of this extraordinary creature, the lowest link 

 now knoAvn in the scale of vertebrate animals. 

 That it is a fish of singular character will at once 

 be conceded, when it is known that Pallas and the 

 naturalists of his day arranged it as a Limax, that 

 is, ^^-ith the slugs and snails, in the class MoUusca. 

 IMr. Yarrell, upon careful examination, very jDroperly 

 transferred it into the division Yeiiebrata, and class 

 of Fishes, placing it in the family Petromyzidas, 

 near the Cyclostomes, or Round-mouthed Fishes ; 

 so connecting it with the Lampreys and !Myxine. 

 The details of Mr. Gcodsir's labours clearly demon- 

 strate, as that gentleman remarks, that the Lance- 

 lot can no longer be retained even in the same 

 family with the last named fishes, but must assume 

 an ordinal value in any new arrangement of this 

 class. 



We have remarked that the true position of the 

 Lancelot has been assigned in the division Yerte- 

 brata, and class Fishes; and yet, it has no true 

 bone nor cartilage, and consequently no true verte- 

 bra, in the composition of its skeleton : no more 

 has it any proper head, cranium, or brain; nor 

 eye, nor ear. It is placed in the class of fishes, and 

 yet it has nothing like true gills or branchial arches ; 

 once more, it has neither hepatic, renal, nor common 

 reproductive orcians ; and yet, when Mr. Forbes' 



