372 ON THE ANATOMY OF AMPIIIOXUS LANCEOLATUS. 



the investigation, and to correct what appeared to me to have 

 been errors in their observations. To complete the history of 

 the Lancelet, however, an examination of it when alive in 

 sea-water must be undertaken. In this way only, can certain 

 points in its structure and actions be explained, and light be 

 thrown on the economy of one of the most anomalous of the 

 vertebrated animals. 



The first notice which we have of the Lancelet is in the 

 Spicilegia Zoologica of Pallas * who received his specimens 

 from the coast of Cornwall. Although he observed its 

 ichthyic characters, he allowed himself to be misled by its 

 other peculiarities, and particularly by the membranous folds of 

 the abdomen. He described it well, but placed it in the 

 genus Limax, under the designation Limax lanceolatus. 



Professor Jameson has directed my attention to the first 

 volume of Stewart's Elements of Natural History, f in which 

 the Lancelet is described as a Limax with the specific desig- 

 lation lanccolaris. Mr. Stewart's description is evidently an 

 abstract from that of Pallas, to whom he refers. He had, 

 however, a right appreciation of the essential characters, as 

 he states that the animal is " hardly a Limax." 



It is to Mr. Yarrell, however, in his most valuable work 

 on British Pishes, that we are indebted for the first detailed 

 account of this animal. He recognised in his solitary specimen, 

 the Limax lanceolatus of Pallas. In his description, which is 

 in other respects most correct, he has omitted the lateral 

 membranous folds of the abdomen, so well observed and 

 embodied in the description of Pallas. Mr. Yarrell observed 

 the vertebral column, the ichthyic lateral muscles, dorsal fin, 

 intestines, and ovaries, and transferred the animal, therefore, 

 to the Vertebrata. He placed it in the family Petromyzida?, 

 near the cyclostomous fishes, as he considered the fringed 



* Talks, Sine. Zool. x. p. 19, t. i. Fig. 11. 

 t Stewart's Elements of Natural History, 2d ed. vol. i. p. 38fi. 



