THE TRANSMUTATION OF SPECIES. 241 



always been one of his favourite subjects of study. It 

 was characteristic of the ardent and enthusiastic tempera- 

 ment of the man, and of the thoroughness with which he 

 threw himself into his work, that starting in this way, in 

 advanced life, and with a subject almost new to him, he 

 should have been able finally to give to the world that 

 gigantic and classical exposition of his special depart- 

 ment known as the ' Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans 

 Vertebres.' The first edition of this great and famous 

 work was published between the years 1815-1822, in 

 seven octavo volumes, of which five were written wholly 

 by Lamarck himself. Owing to the failure of his sight, 

 he was assisted in the part relating to the insects by 

 Latreille ; and when his sight wholly gave way, the 

 remainder of the work was written by Valenciennes, or 

 drawn up by one of his daughters from his previously 

 written notes and papers. The second edition of this 

 work, edited by Deshayes and Henri Milne-Edwards, is 

 the one now generally used. It is in eleven volumes 

 octavo, and was published between 1835 an d 1845. It is 

 not necessary here to enter into any detailed analysis of 

 this wonderful work. It is still indispensable to working 

 zoologists, in almost all the groups of Invertebrate 

 animals; and the classification adopted in it is in many 

 respects a great improvement upon any that had preceded 

 it. His primary division of the animal kingdom into 

 ' Apathetic/ ' Sentient,' and ' Intelligent ' animals, even if 

 it expresses an underlying truth, is one practically in- 

 applicable. It is, however, to Lamarck that we owe the 

 exceedingly useful general name of ' Invertebrate Animals ' 



for the entire series of animals below the Vertebrata, 



p 



