THE INDIGENOUS FAUNA. 27 



places to consider here one character and there another, and thus 

 demonstrate the variability of each character by itself. Thus the 

 series, though made somewhat more cumbrous, yet serves scarcely 

 the less to illustrate a conviction which steadily and powerfully 

 grows upon one in the course of many years' constant familiarity 

 with a multitude of specimens. 



While thus pointing out the mutability of the forms of Brachio- 

 poda it is perhaps worth while observing that the value of the 

 species is thereby in no way decreased, but on the other hand is, I 

 believe, considerably increased both to the Naturalist and Strati- 

 graph ist. 



Whether we call our various forms varieties, races, types or any 

 other name, the facts of the great constancy of our recognised 

 ' specific ' types, and their limited distribution in space and time 

 still remain to us : our characteristic species are as useful as ever 

 they were ; while on the other hand we shall have added a most 

 important help to the determination of the relations of rock beds 

 to one another when we can recognise the true meaning of allied 

 genera, species and varieties. 



Nor can I leave this part of the subject without referring to 

 those false specialists of late years who, to shield their own half- 

 knowledge of a subject, seem to be content in making loud pro- 

 fessions of their belief that " there are no such things as species." 

 These persons, it seems to me, are ignoring the house because the 

 scaffolding has been taken away. They fail to see that the old 

 values remain unbroken, when viewed in the new lights, and still 

 less are they able to perceive the added virtues. Nor can they 

 appreciate the laborious training of the modern Naturalist and 

 the increasing importance of his work. 



POLYZOA. The Polyzoa of Upware and Brickhill are remark- 

 able for the rich development of the large arborescent forms. The 

 Ceriopora (Echinocava] Rawlini is a peculiar coralloid type, originally 

 described from the Ardennes but not uncommon at Upware. Rep- 

 tomultisparsa Haimiana is a Swiss species, but the Heteropora 

 coalescens is a North European form described by Reuss from the 

 Unterer Quader ( = Upper Chalk) of Saxony, near Dresden. The 

 great amorphous, nodulose masses of Ceriopora are amongst the 

 most striking of the Upware fossils ; but of the ordinary types of 

 creeping and encrusting Polyzoa scarcely a trace has been found. 



