Letters, Announcements, &^c. 359 



than the attempt to classify animals by such a " single cha- 

 racter " as that of their molar teeth ? And yet, am I wrong 

 in saying that if we happened to have no better guide, the 

 character of these teeth would, in a large proportion of cases, 

 give us a very good idea of the affinities of the monodelphous 

 Mammalia ? 



Under these circumstances I do not feel that it is within my 

 " moral competence " (to borrow a phrase from a distinguished 

 jiersonage) to entertain a priori objections to the value of a 

 single character for classificatory purposes. The question must, 

 I think, be argued a posteriori, and with reference to each par- 

 ticular case. Teeth may be very good marks of affinity among the 

 Mammalia, and very bad ones among the Reptilia ; but their 

 badness in the latter case will not affect their goodness in the 

 former. 



Now let me apply all these considerations to the subdivisions 

 of the Carinata, in which alone, let me remark in passing, have I 

 ascribed a prepotent virtue to palatine characters. In the case 

 of the Schizognath(2, I must look upon your objections as a mere 

 unconscious dissembling of affection ; for is it not certified under 

 your hand (p. 92) ? — 



" That the majority of the forms united by Prof. Huxley 

 under the title Schizognatha are in reality very nearly allied, 

 will be denied by no ornithologist, I believe, who thinks for 

 himself.^' 



And again (p. 93) : — 



" Now on all these points, except one, I had already arrived 

 at opinions closely resembling those of Prof. Huxley, but quite 

 independently of any considerations of the bones of the palate.'' 



Could I ask for better evidence, that the schizognathous skull 

 marks a great natural division of birds as well as, for example, 

 the doubly crescentic molar pattern marks a Ruminant ? 



In the face of the pleasure that such valuable confirmation of 

 the essential validity of my views gives me, I will not complain 

 of the paragraph which follows — though I do think that any 

 one who discovered that certain molar teeth are characteristic 

 of the whole of the Ruminantia, might reasonably feel a little 

 hurt in his mind if you told him that you had arrived at the 



