LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



is taken from the biographical notice of his father by 

 Professor Edward S. Dana. 



' The large volume devoted to the zoophytes, and the 

 two volumes of the Crustacea, each work with an atlas of 

 beautiful plates, most of them drawn by himself, are clas- 

 sical works containing the descriptions of hundreds of 

 new species and with a philosophical development of 

 the classification and the relations of species that is 

 truly profound. It is in this matter of the classification 

 that the most important contribution to zoology was 

 made. This is true in general of both the works, and 

 though the last half-century that has elapsed has brought 

 some slight changes to the classification of the Crustacea 

 here developed, that of the corals stands to-day nearly 

 as it was given in the expedition report. 



' The volume upon the zoophytes is what would be 

 called to-day a report on the Anthozoa, including the 

 description of the corals and coral-making animals and of 

 allied forms, of sea-anemones, and including also a few 

 hydroids. The value of the work is much increased by 

 the fact that it was the first time that any considerable 

 number of the coral animals had been described and 

 figured from life; the original colored drawings were 

 made by Mr. Dana from the living animals, as described 

 in the quotation below, taken from the preface. The 

 beautiful drawings of the sea-anemones, it should be 

 stated, were made by the artist of the expedition, Mr. 

 Drayton. The volume thus marked a new era in the 

 subject, since collections had hitherto been limited for 

 the most part to the corals themselves." 



This quotation is then made from Prof. J. D. Dana: 



* The field for geological investigation there offered 

 [the Feejee Islands] was limited, as we were shut out 

 from the interior of the islands by the character of the 

 natives; at the same time coral reefs spread out an in- 

 viting field for observation, hundreds of square miles in 



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