DE LAMARCK. 1 69 



to discover and to demonstrate that the animals 

 whose history had been left to him through con- 

 tempt, were quite as interesting as others, if not 

 more so, on account of their vast numbers, the 

 important part they perform in nature, the infinite 

 variety of their forms, and the wonders of their 

 organization. ^His extraordinary labours in this 

 department have contributed much more to his 

 fame than his botanical writings, and are certainly 

 more valuable.'^He seems to have exercised his 

 abilities to the utmost in these researches ; and if, 

 since that time, it has been necessary in some 

 instances to alter, to amend, or to extend the 

 limits of his work, yet it remains a lasting memento 

 of his talents, and it will be long ere any one will 

 be found sufficiently profound in knowledge to 

 undertake a general revision and alteration of his 

 works. 



At the present day, when any student begins to 

 learn the zoology of the lower animals, he will find 

 a very great number of genera with the name of 

 Lamarck placed after them, indicating that he first 

 of all described and published them. As the 

 student becomes accomplished he will appreciate 

 Lamarck more and more, and will come to the 

 conclusion that no one has done such good and 

 solid work as that distinguished Frenchman, 

 amongst the vast assemblage of animals which he 

 first of all called invertebrata, or animals without 

 backbones. This term he used in preference to 

 the old one of white or colourless-blooded animals, 



