INTRODUCTION. CXXl 



Of the Cheilostomata he says : " Hoc e/iim cerium 

 dicimus, ut ex origine simili progressa sint ha forma, 

 qua rum colonia et individua in uno vel altero stadio 

 evolutionem sistere possint'," and he summarizes his 

 doctrine thus : " Si sermone theoretico uti licet, sicut 

 individua, sic etiam species et cetera divisiones, qua 

 systema naturule conjiciunt, legibus evolutionis subjecta 

 MM*." 



Certainly a most interesting field of inquiry is here 

 opened before us : and though we may not be prepared at 

 present to accept Prof. S mitt's view (and as little are we 

 prepared to reject it), there can be no doubt that it should 

 give for some time the direction to investigation. 



It seems to me, however, that the attempt at a genea- 

 logical arrangement in detail, if it should ever be feasible, 

 is certainly premature, and that even in the hands of so 

 able and conscientious an observer as Prof. Smitt it 

 yields any thing but a satisfactory result. He himself 

 admits the serious difficulties attendant upon the work, 

 some of which are never likely to disappear *. 



It must, I think, be admitted that his reduction of the 

 older species is, to a considerable extent, excessive, whilst, 

 at the same time, the grounds on which forms are asso- 

 ciated in one and the same specific group are often 

 questionable, and no small amount of confusion is 

 caused by the blending of species of doubtful affinity 

 under a single name. 



Our knowledge of the morphology of the class will be 

 better promoted at the present stage by keeping separate, 



* " lierum et iterum memoranda cat ignorantia noatra pra'cipue spe- 

 nt-rum t-xtuictiiruin, qiue limitea liarum dmsionum im-crtoe facit." (Ef. 



