OWEN TO AGASS1Z. 575 



lihood of your being able to come over in the 

 course of the summer or autumn. I fully ex- 

 pected you last year, and was very much dis- 

 appointed that you could not realize your in- 

 tention. I have this day sent to you through 

 Bailliere, the last decade of the Jermyn St. 

 publications. 1 You will see that Huxley has 

 taken up the subject of the Devonian fishes in 

 a truly scientific spirit. . . . 



FROM OWEN TO AGASSIZ. 



BRITISH MUSEUM, Aug. 30, 1862. 



MY DEAR AGASSIZ, I have received, and 

 since its reception have devoted most of my 

 spare moments to the study of, your fourth 

 volume of the " Natural History of the United 

 States," a noble contribution to our science, 

 and worthy of your great name. 



The demonstration of the unity of plan 

 pervading the diversities of the Polyps 1 , Hy- 

 droids, Acalephal and Echinodermal modifica- 

 tions of your truly natural group of Radiates, 

 is to my mind perfect, and I trust that the 

 harsh and ugly and essentially error-breeding 

 name of Coelenterata may have received its 

 final sentence of exile from lasting and ra- 

 tional zoological terminology. 



1 Publications of the Geological Survey of England. 



