CLASSIFICATION OF ZOOPHYTES. 109 
relations, and then to map them out, rather than force the devious 
windings of nature into circles large and small.* 
109. Subdivisions of Zoophytes. ‘The orders Hydroidea and Acti- 
noidea, have already been laid down as the primary subdivisions of 
zoophytes. ‘The order Actinoidea has been again divided into the 
sub-orders Actinaria and Alcyonaria. The Alcyonaria, according to 
most authors, constitute one of the grand divisions equivalent to 
Hydroidea and Actinoidea. But the general identity in structure 
and mode of reproduction, and other coincidences stated in the pre- 
ceding pages, seem fully to justify the arrangement adopted. In the 
subordinate groupings, the actual character of the animals has been 
considered of superior importance to the mere absence or presence 
of coral secretions. Olivi long ago correctly stated that the consi- 
deration of the presence or absence of calcareous secretions was of 
no more importance in zoophytes, than in the Mollusca. 
110. The farther subdivision of the sub-order Actinaria, into the 
four tribes Astreacea, Caryophyllacea, Madreporacea, and Antipa- 
thacea, is based upon the structure of the polyps and their mode of 
budding. ‘The fleshy Actinize belong to this sub-order, and possibly 
we may yet find among them representations of all the several tribes. 
Yet, as they are not budding species, excepting the Zoanthide, and 
their distinctive internal characters have not been laid down, they 
have all been retained for the present in the same tribe, Astreeacea. 
The Antipathi have been arranged by some with the Gorgonie, and 
by others of late, with the Bryozoa.{ They have no relation to the 
latter, and but little to the former; their tentacles are quite similar in 
appearance to those of the Madrepores, although but six in number. 
The family Fungide has not hitherto been recognised as a distinct 
* The Bryozoa, Rotifera, and Entozoa, are by no means the only links between the 
Protozoa and the other sub-kingdoms ; on the contrary, the direct affiliations, and the 
analogical connexions which arise from parallel gradations of developements in separate 
and often distant groups, are numerous, and a long series of investigations will be required 
before they can be fully made out. In the Baccillarice, and others of the Pseudopoda, we 
appear to distinguish the Echinoderm and Acaleph form deyeloped in an infusorial struc- 
ture. The sponges, also, belong here, if animal, as Dujardin urges," and seem, in like 
manner, to represent the Zoophyta. 
} Zoologia Adriatica, Bassano, 1792. See Blainville’s Man. d’Actin., p. 30. 
+ Ehrenberg, op. cit., 357 ; also, M. Perty, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte, as quoted in 
Oken’s Isis, 1841, p. 371. 
2 Annales des Sci. Nat., x., 5, 1838. 
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