76 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



memoir on the " Fins of Elasraobranchs," in which, contempora- 

 neously with the American Thacher, he formulated the famous 

 lateral fin-fold theory of the origin of the Vertebrate Limbs, which, 

 allowing for error concerning the forward rotation of the pectoral 

 tin of the Batoidei, still finds favour. 



This memoir is alone sufficient to have established his reputation 

 ;as a Zoologist ; and, among his remaining works, the orientation of 

 the surfaces and processes of the Monotreme scapula, the dis- 

 covery of the " Ursine Lozenge" in the Sea-lion, the arguments 

 that the Lemurs may be a sub-order distinct from the Apes and 

 Man and that they have been wrougly included in the Primates, 

 are the most noteworthy topics dealt with. In his ' Possibly Dual 

 'Origin of the Mammalia' he attained a somewhat doubtful notoriety, 

 as also in his attempt to effect a compromise between the Giin- 

 therian classification of the Batrachia Anura and that of Cope. In 

 his memoirs on the Arctoidea and ^^i^luroidea, he did good service 

 by supplementing those of the late Sir W. Flower, in which these 

 terms were introduced. 



Mivart was the author of a large number of popular articles 

 and lectures on Natural History subjects, and also of the articles 

 ' Ape,' • Eeptiiia (anatomy),' and ' Skeleton,' in the 9th edition 

 of the Encyclopaedia Bjitannica ; but none of these call for special 

 comment. Among his miscellaneous Addresses and Eeviews, two 

 are noteworthy — one for his defence of Buffon, whom he believed 

 to have been overshadowed by Linnaeus ; the other for his justifica- 

 tion of Owen's claim to have anticipated, in their essence, the 

 "Weismannistic doctrines of the Immortality of the Protozoa and 

 the Grerm Plasma. 



Asa writer of books and a controversalist, Mivart attained great 

 UDtoriety. His ' Nature and Thought ' (1SS2), ' Origin of Reason ' 

 (1889), and his ' Groundwork of Science' (1894), are among the 

 most ambitious and famous of his philosophic writings ; and to 

 read him at his best is to study his two volumes of ' Essays 

 and Criticisms ' published in 1892. More nearly educational are 

 his ' Birds : The Elements of Ornithology,' and his ' Types of 

 Animal Life,' — the first by no means free from error or the better 

 for the embodiment of a classification which has not found 

 favour ; the second unintelligible in the arrangement of its con- 

 tents. In 1896 he essayed the impossible task of incorporating 

 in a single small volume the ' Elements of Science,' including 

 history and mathematics. Three other of his books remain to be 

 mentioned, viz., the successive memoirs on the ' Cat,' the ' Canidse,' 

 and the ' Lories.' Of these, the first, largely superfluous beside 

 the great work of Strauss-Durckheim, \^hile containing much 

 that is general and instructive on the first principles of mammalian 

 morphology, is very disappointing where the subtle details of 

 that of the Cat are concerned. The second, by lack of depth of 

 research, is of little avail ; while the third, based upon a previous 

 series of papers, is the best and most i^eliable of the three. 



There can be little doubt that with advancing years Mivart 



