265 



not do so. In fact it was these very sections which enabled him to give 

 his descriptions «de la forme et des rapports des canaux exclusivement 

 contenus« in the soft ventral portions of the arm, descriptions of which 

 Perr ier now admits the accuracy, though he formerly denied it, owing 

 to his not having taken the proper means to verify them. 



Professor Perr ier speaks of the long series of attacks which I 

 have made upon his works since 1883. For these he has only himself 

 to thank. Many of his observations, as no one knows better than my- 

 self, are of very great value ; and I have always expressed myself to 

 that effect whenever I have had occasion to notice them, as for example, 

 in the January number of the Quarterly Journal of microscopical sci- 

 ence see pp. 382, 383. My criticisms have been chiefly directed against 

 his frequent and flagrant misstatements, and against his too hasty gene- 

 ralisations ; and so long as he continues to commit himself in this way, 

 so long must he expect to be criticised. 



If he will take the trouble in future to understand the essential 

 characters of existing genera before proceeding to establish new ones ; 

 if he will also take the trouble to make himself thoroughly acquainted 

 with the observations of his predecessors before venturing to criticise 

 them, and will refrain from giving grossly incorrect versions of their 

 statements ; if he will abstain from attributing to me views which I 

 have never held and from making sarcastic comments upon those views ; 

 and if he will cease to make showy generalisations which are in direct 

 and absolute contradiction to established zoological truths, without 

 off'ering one particle of evidence in their favour; he will then afl'ord 

 no grounds for severe criticism, either by myself or by any other of 

 his fellow-workers. 



4. Étude de la dent canine, 



appliquée au cas présenté par le genre Damanet complétée par les 



définitions des catégories de dents 



communes à plusieurs ordres de la classe des Mammifères. 



Par Fernand La taste, Paris. 



eingeg. 5, April 1887, 



I. Origine, but, méthode et plan de cette étude. 

 Au congrès tenu, l'an dernier, à Nancy, par l'Association 

 française pour l'avancement des sciences, quand j'eus com- 

 muniqué les résultats de mes recherches sur le système dentaire des 

 Damans ^ et que je me fus efibrcé de démontrer que la première dent 



1 Ces recherches ont été, depuis, publiées dans les Annali del Museo civico 

 di Genova, s. 2, v. IV, 27 septembre 1886. 



