CHAPTER II. 



DIVISION OF ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



PBOTOZOA GfiEGABIN^I EHIZOPODA POLYCYSTINA DIATOMACE^E FOSSIL 

 INFUSORIA, SPONGID.E, HYDROZOA, VOBTICELL.E, 

 AOTINOZOA, BOTIFEE^E, POLYZOA. &c. 



'INCE our very limited space forbade 

 more than a cursory glance at 

 the many and varied points of 

 beauty and arrangement dis- 

 played in every part of the vege- 

 table kingdom; so in the pre- 

 sent division is it necessary 

 to be equally brief in noticing 

 the wonders displayed by the 

 help of the microscope, in the 

 world of animal life. In the 

 course of remarks made upon 

 the early condition of vegetable 



life, we drew attention to the difficulties presented in all 

 attempts to mark out the boundary line between vege- 

 tables and animals, and to define where the one ends, 

 and the other begins. 



Upon reviewing the different characters by which 

 it has been attempted to distinguish the special subjects 

 of the botanist and zoologist, we find that animals and 

 plants are not two natural divisions, but are specialised 

 members of one and the same group of organised beings. 

 When a certain number of characters concur in the same 

 organism, its title to be regarded as a "plant," or an 

 " animal," may be readily recognised ; but there are very 

 numerous living beings, especially those that retain the 



