54 M A HIM TV OK T1IK (iKNKUA. 



among themselves like those of the A //,/,/, io.rux and of 

 sapiens^ between which imaginary ^volution has worked, 

 according to theory, in marly tin- same period of time. 



Hut the material facts discovered by paheontology and 

 accessible to everyone, dispel :dl illusion. hi elfect, the 

 Nautilides. notwithstanding the great number of their 

 specific forms, which must exceed :;<)(). depart so little from 

 their initial type, throughout the geological ages, that the 

 merest noVice wouhl not hesitate in any case to ivcon-ni/e 

 their generic natni'e. The variations or differences ainonu' 

 the species, oscillate without any tendency to continue in a 

 sino-le direction so as to found a new tyj)e. In the actual 

 fauna. Nautilus does not show, between its forms and the 

 primitive forms, any greater differences than those which all 

 naturalists agree in considering as purely specific. Even the 

 Triassic Nantilides show less affinity to existing species than 

 do the primitive forms. The theoretical evolution of the 

 cephalopods. like that of the Trilobites, appears to us to be 

 imaginary, without any foundation in fact.* 

 Dr. Paul Fischer, in a novice of Barrande's work, whilst 

 acknowledging the strength of the facSs and observations brought 

 forward by thai distinguished pala-ontologist against the de- 

 velopment theory, does no! consider them conclusive: "The 

 type (ionialiies. says M. Fischer, has always been considered by 

 evolutionists as a natural transition between the Nautilus with 

 its very simple parliiions and the foliaceous sutures of the 

 Ammonite; an opinion which is strengthened by the appear- 

 ance of (Joniatites chronologically intermediate between the 

 oilier two. In order to show the extreme dilteivnce which 

 exists between the Nautilus and the (Joniatites. M. Uarrande 

 has studied the characters of the initial shell in these two genera 

 a study which has acquired great importance since the publi- 

 cation of Mr. Alpheus Hyatt's " Fossil ( Yphalopoda." 



Mr. Hyali has shown that the initial chamber of Xdiililiitt 

 J'onipil'iii* shows an elongated nearly linen r cicat rice, enclosed 

 by an elliptical surface slighily depressed. He supposes that 

 the ovisack was attached to the elliptic surfacr. rind that the 



, Etudes G6nral es," 224-280, is?;. 



