102 An Introduction to Zoology. 



that in drawing up the very abridged and compendious view contained in 

 our last number, the same was our leading object. We are well aware, 

 that whenever it becomes necessary to aim at extreme condensation, such 

 as would endeavour to comprise the substance of whole courses of lectures 

 or voluminous works in a single essay of a few pages, dryness very gene- 

 rally, and not seldom also, according to the often-quoted line of Horace, 

 obscurity must be the result , still there are undoubtedly great advantages 

 in thus presenting at once to the mind general views of the whole subject, 

 conceived in the fewest possible words. And we would trust that the more 

 detailed essays which we hope hereafter from time to time to lay before our 

 readers, on the separate branches of Zoology, will be rendered much more 

 conducive to the intelligent and scientific acquisition of this most interest- 

 ing department of knowledge, when properly referred to the general 

 principles we have thus endeavoured to inculcate. 



In seeking to point out to our readers, which was our second object, the 

 Zoological stores which our very excellent institution offers for their in- 

 struction, we shall pursue a method similar to that which has been applied 

 in the preceding article to our Mineralogical and Geological collections. 

 Under each of the leading classes of the animal kingdom, we shall say a few 

 words concerning the materials for its illustration, which are thus placed at 

 the command of the public. 



1. VVe may begin, then, with the class of Zoophytes, to which, from their 

 radiated structure, the name actinozoa has been given, and the branch of 

 Zoology which treats of these, denominated Actinology, in one of the latest 

 and ablest works on the subject, by M. de Blainville, to which we would 

 especially wish to refer those of our readers who may desire to acquire a full 

 and comprehensive acquaintance with the organization and physiology of 

 this class — a class which, though it be indeed the lowest in the animal 

 kingdom, is yet singularly interesting, from the beauty of the forms it often 

 exhibits, and still more so from the novel light which it is calculated to 

 throw upon what may be called the metaphysics of the vital principle, by 

 presenting us with the remarkable phfenomena of compound animals, each 

 member of which apparently possesses a perfect and distinct system of its 

 own, while they are combined together into a common living system, just 

 as are the individual branches and flowers of a single plant. We hope 

 hereafter to return to the more detailed consideration of this subject ; at 

 present we have only to notice the specimens which our museum affords 

 in its illustration. And here we have tlie gratification of stating, that these 

 present every requisite advantage for studying the general history of the 

 beautiful and interesting class of corals. The collection of flexible corals 

 is peculiarly rich j and although that of madrepores is somewhat less so, 

 still is it, on the whole, very satisfactory. Of the naked polypi, or actiniae, 

 also, there are some specimens preserved in spirits, which will enable the 

 student better to examine the interior organization of animals of the same 



