Chap. I. 



FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



the complication of structure ; for, where there is but one representative of a type, 

 there is no room for the question of its superiority or inferiority in comparison to 

 others within the Hmits of the class, orders being groups subordinate to one another 

 in their class. Yet, even in this case, the question of the standing of Articulata, as a 

 type among the other great branches of the animal kingdom, would be open to our 

 investigations; but it would assume another aspect from that which it now presents, 

 as the comparison of Articulata Avith the other types would then be limited to the 

 Lobster, and would lead to a very different result from that to which we may arrive, 

 now that this type includes such a large number of most extensively diversified rep- 

 resentatives, belonging even to different classes. That such speculations are not idle 

 must be apparent to any one who is aware, that, during every period in the history 

 of our globe in past geological ages,^ the general relations, the numeric proportions, 

 and the relative importance of all the types of the animal kingdom, have been ever 

 changing, until their present relations were established. Here, then, the individuals 

 of one species, as observed while living, simultaneously exhibit characters, which, to 

 be expressed satisfactorily and in conformity to what nature tells us, would require 

 the establishment, not only of a distinct species, but also of a distinct genus, a dis- 

 tinct family, a distinct class, a distinct branch. Is not this in itself evidence enough 

 that genera, families, orders, classes, and types have the same foundation in nature as 

 species, and that the individuals living at the time have alone a material existence, 

 they being the bearers, not only of all these different categories of structure upon 

 which the natural system of animals is founded, l)ut also of all the relations which 

 animals sustain to the surrounding world, — thus showing that species do not exist in 

 nature in a different way from the higher groups, as is so generally believed? 



The divisions of animals according to branch, class, order, family, genus, and 

 species, by whicli we express the results of our investigations into the relations of 

 the animal kingdom, and which constitute the first question respecting the scientific 

 systems of Natural History which we have to consider, seem to me to deserve the 

 consideration of all thoughtful minds. Are these divisions artificial or natural ? Are 



* A series of classifications of animals and plants, 

 exhibiting each a natural system of the types known 

 to have existed simultaneously during the several 

 successive geological periods, considered singly and 

 without reference to the types of other ages, would 

 sliow in a strong light the difibrent relations in 

 whieli the classes, the orders, the families, and even 

 the genera and species, have stood to one another 

 during each epoch. Such classifications would illus- 

 trate, in the most impressive manner, the importance 



of an accurate knowledge of the ndative standing 

 of all animals and plants, \vhi<'ii can only lie interred 

 from the perusal even of those pala^ontological works 

 in which fossil remains are illustrated according to 

 their association in ditferent geological formations ; 

 fur, in all these works, the remains of past ages are 

 uniformly referred to a sj-stein established ujion the 

 study of the .animals now living, thus lessening the 

 impression of their peculiar combination for the 

 periods under consideration. 



