CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 359 



groups, as classes or sub-kingdoms, or smaller ones, as 

 families or genera. It is in the typical forms that we 

 have these plans fully brought to view ; while there is in 

 the aberrant, in proportion to the degree in which they 

 are so, a departure from these plans, or, rather, a modi- 

 fication of them, to suit the particular wants and habits 

 in each case. Thus, in the Vertebrates, the plan of the 

 skeleton is very perfectly developed in the higher ani- 

 mals, and especially in man. But the general features of 

 the plan are the same in all this sub-kingdom. This may 

 be seen if we take the skeleton as a whole, as illustrated 

 in the first chapter, or if we look at some particular por- 

 tion of it, as the arm and hand, as illustrated in regard 

 to the nipper of a Whale (g 185), the anterior extremity 

 of the Dugong ( 195), the wing of the Bat ( 58), and 

 the wing of birds ( 198). In the Articulata, the ring- 

 like arrangement, seen so decidedly in most of the ani- 

 mals of this sub-kingdom, as the Centipede ( 381), is not 

 really given up in those where it seems to be, as in the 

 Crab tribe ; but a careful observation shows that it is 

 only modified by making some of the rings exceedingly 

 broad, while others are made exceedingly narrow ( 526). 

 There is not here an abandonment of the general plan, 

 but a departure or aberration from it to some extent, 

 making an aberrant form, in distinction from the typical 

 forms where the ring-like arrangement is fully carried 

 out. What I have thus said of the Vertebrates and the 

 Articulates is essentially true of all parts of the animal 

 kingdom. 



625. The great wonder is that so much uniformity of 

 plan can be made consistent with such extreme variety, 

 the minutiaB of exact adaptation being in all cases fully 

 carried out. There would have been a much smaller dis- 

 play of wisdom and skill, if the same variety had been at- 

 tained without the extended general plans which we see 

 were adopted. None but omnipotent power could so 

 connect endless variations in minutia3 with so few typical 

 forms and arrangements. 



