HUGH MILLER. XXV. 



question is to be decided, our author proceeds to consider 

 " what are the facts.'" The Asterolepis of Strom ness seems 

 to be the oldest organism yet discovered in the most ancient 

 geological system of Scotland in which vertebrate remains 

 occur. It is probably the oldest Coelacanth that the world 

 has yet produced; for there is no certain trace of this family 

 in the great Silurian system, which lies underneath, and on 

 which, according to our existing knowledge, organic exist- 

 ence first began." "How, then," asks Mr Miller, " on the 

 two relevant points, — ^bulk and organization, — does it an- 

 swer to the demands of the development hypothesis 1 Was 

 it a mere foetus of the finny tribe, of minute size and imper- 

 fect embryonic faculty % Or was it of at least the ordinary 

 bulk, and, for its class, of the average organization V 



In order to answer these questions, Mr Miller proceeds in. 

 his third chapter to give the recent history of the Astero- 

 lepis j in \ns> fourth, to ascertain the cerebral development of 

 the earlier vertebrata ; and in his fifth chapter, to describe 

 the structure, bulk, and aspect of the Asterolepis. In the 

 rocks of Russia certain fossil remains had been long ago dis- 

 covered, of such a singular nature as to have perplexed La- 

 marck and other naturalists. Their true place among fishes 

 was subsequently ascertained by M. Eichwald, a living na- 

 turalist ; and Sir Roderick Murchison found that they were 

 ichthyolites of the Old Red Sandstone. Agassiz gave them 

 the name of Chelonichthys ; but in consequence of very fine 

 specimens having been found in the Old Red Sandstone of 

 Russia, which Professor Asmus of Dorpat sent to the British 

 Museum, and which exhibited star-like markings, he aban- 

 doned his name of Chelonichthys, and adopted that of Astero- 

 lepis. or star-scale, which Eichwald had proposed. Many 

 points, however, respecting this curious fossil remained to be 

 determined ; and it was fortunate for science that Mr Miller 

 was enabled to accomplish this object by means of a variety 



