218 



ESSAY ON CLASSIFICATION. 



Part I. 



W 



P. Rudes. 



P. Vaginati. 

 ACRITA. 



'Agastria, 



P. Natantes. 



Intestina. 



MOLLUSCA. 



Pteropoda. l/l. 

 Acephala. /lleptilia. 



Braehiopoda. J ^^^^ 



VERTEBRATA. 



Mammalia. 

 Amphibia. 



AOTMALTA 



Pisces. 



^0^^ 



.^•^' 



^\^^, 



^^. 



^^n^ 



" We must, in the first instance, look to the above tabular disposition of all 

 animals, as forming themselves collectively into one great circle, which circle touches 

 or blends into another, composed of plants, by means of the 'least organized beings 

 of the vegetable kingdom.' Next we are to look to the larger component parts 

 of this great circular assemblage. We find it, in accordance with the third proposi- 

 tion, to exhibit five great circles, composed of the Mollusca, or shellfish ; Acrita, 

 or polyps ; Radiata, or star-fish ; Annulosa, or insects ; and Vertebrata, or verte- 

 brated animals ; each passing or blending into each other, by means of five other 

 groups of animals, much smaller, indeed, in their extent, but forming so many 

 connecting or osculant circles.^ The number, therefore, as many erroneously suppose, 

 is not five, but ten. This is quite obvious ; and our opinion on this point is 

 confirmed by the author himself, in the following passage, when alluding to his 

 remarks upon the whole : — ' The foregoing observations, I am well aware, are far 

 from accurate, but they are sufficient to prove that there are five great circular 

 groups in the animal kingdom, each of which possesses a peculiar structure ; and that 



' In the original diagram, as in that above, these 

 five smaller circles are not represented graphically, 



but merely indicated by the names arranged like 

 rays between the five large circles. 



