122 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



cheerful, confident, and possessed a fund of dry humor." 

 Most enthusiastic about their collections, he was able to 

 tell them many things that they did not know, especially 

 about Echinoderm and Annelid larvae, and showed how 

 he had proved that Tornaria was the larva of Balano- 

 glossus. In short, he created such a favorable impres- 

 sion that it was freely prophesied he would have a very 

 brilliant scientific future. 



By the end of the year the " Revision of the Echini" 

 was completed. It represented an immense amount of 

 work, and its author was at once recognized as the 

 leading authority on the subject. The text consists of 

 770 quarto pages, and is illustrated by 87 plates, be- 

 sides numerous wood-cuts in the text, and seven maps 

 showing geographical distribution. Part I treats of the 

 literature, nomenclature, synonymy, and geographical 

 distribution. Part II takes up the Echini of the East 

 Coast of the United States, including the Pourtales col- 

 lections. Part III deals with the description of the spe- 

 cies of recent Echini, and Part IV contains the structure 

 and embryology of these animals. In his short autobio- 

 graphy, Agassiz says of this work : " Nothing pleased 

 me more than to have been able to present the cost of 

 these volumes to the Museum ; and on the other side 

 the recognition it received from scientific men, and the 

 position it took as the standard work on the subject 

 was no less satisfactory to me." 



A few words from the last pages of the " Revision " 

 may not be out of place here : — 



" It is astonishing that so little use has been made of 

 the positive data furnished by embryology in support of 

 the evolution hypothesis, and that so many of the sup- 



