488 RECENT BRACHIOPODA chap, xvii 



even these are too remote to justify any system of classification 

 which would bring them together under a common name. In- 

 vestigation into the details of the embryology of the group, more 

 especially into that of the Ecardines, might throw some light 

 on this subject, and it is much to be desired that this should be 

 undertaken without delay. That the group is a most ancient 

 one, extending from the oldest geological formations, we know ; that 

 the existing members of it have changed but little during the 

 vast lapse of time since their earliest fossil ancestors flourished, 

 we believe ; but we are in almost total ignorance of the origin or 

 affinities of the group, and we can hardly hope for any light on 

 the subject except through embryological research. 



