INFINITE DIVERSITY OF CREATION. 365 



If we add to these 20,600 species of Vertebrate Animals, 

 200,000 species of Articulata, and 22,000 Mollusca (a mini- 

 mum), we shall have a total of 242,600. 



But to complete the grand whole of beings " who grow, and 

 live, and feel" (the definition of animals laid down by Lin- 

 naeus), we must add the Intestinal Worms, the Echinodermata, 

 the Acalephse (or Sea-nettles), and the Polypes. The history of 

 these singular creatures, which apparently form the transition 

 between the animal and vegetable kingdom, and have thence 

 been designated Zoophytes, leaves much, very much, to be 

 desired before it will be possible to indicate, even approxi- 

 matively, the number of their species. 



And, finally, what shall we say of the Infusoria ? These 

 microscopic forms of life seem, by their extreme multiplicity, 

 to animate all nature. It is in studying these that the inquirer 

 needs to be constantly on his guard, that he may not mistake 

 transitory conditions or larvae for actual species, and it 

 behoves him to understand thoroughly the difficult delimita- 

 tion of specific characters. It would be far easier to ascertain 

 the exact number of human beings who at present people the 

 terrestrial surface, than to fix the total of the species of In- 

 fusoria now in existence ; assuredly it exceeds 250,000. What 

 an infinite variety of design is here ! What a picture it pre- 

 sents of the inexhaustibility of the Creative Mind ! 



Add, then, let us say, in conclusion, to this last great 

 total the aggregate of the Vertebrates, the Articulates, and 



