BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 17 



WB consider that each one " is a miracle passing thought 



with insoluble wonders of birth/' we are fain to re-echo 



the sentiment with which the old observer Fabricius 



closed his book — ^'Remota etiam Deum enunciant/' 



and to confess that, as has often been expressed, — 



" Figured by hand divine there's not a gem 

 Wrought by man's art to be compared with them." 



GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AND 

 DISTRIBUTION. 



It would be useless, in a work of this kind, to present 

 all the various systems of classification which, from 

 time to time, have been proposed for the species here- 

 after described. It will be sufficient to set out, with 

 such explanatory notes as may be necessary, the 

 classifications which appear to the author most success- 

 fully to satisfy the requirements of the subject, and to 

 define suflficiently the leading characteristics of the 

 various species. The works of Mr. Hincks, Mr. Gosse, 

 Prof. Hertwig, and Prof, AUman, alluded to in the 

 introduction, contain systems of classification as com- 

 plete as the present state of knowledge will permit. 



The general system of classification adopted is as 

 follows : — 



To the sub-kingdom Coelenterata (hollow-bodied 

 animals) belong all those animals with more or less 

 radiate structure, in which the alimentary canal freely 

 communicates with the general or " somatic " cavity. 

 They are also furnished with tentacles armed with 

 stinging cells or cnidge. This sub-kingdom is divided 

 into two classes : I. The Hydeozoa, in which the wall of 

 the digestive sac is not separated from that of the somatic 



C 



