So " HUXLEY 



plex structure of their teeth, Labyrinthodonts, are 

 allied to fishes, amphibians, and reptiles ; and if the 

 intermediate forms between birds and reptiles are not 

 so clearly traceable as he and others then held, his 

 demonstration of the affinity between the two was one 

 of his most brilliant successes. 



One great consequence of these researches was that 

 science was enriched by a clear demonstration of the 

 many and close affinities between reptiles and birds, 

 so that the two henceforth came to be known under 

 the joint title of Sauropsida, the Amphibia being at 

 the same time distinctly more separated from the 

 reptiles, and their relations to fishes more clearly sig- 

 nified by the joint title of Ichthyopsida. At the same 

 time proof was brought forward that the line of the 

 descent of the Sauropsida clearly diverged from that 

 of the Mammalia, both starting from some common 

 ancestry. And besides this great generalisation, the 

 importance of which, both from a classificatory and 

 from an evolutional point of view, needs no com- 

 ment, there came out of the same researches numer- 

 ous lesser contributions to the advancement of mor- 

 phological knowledge, including among others an 

 attempt, in many respects successful, at a classification 

 of birds. 1 



But what will, perhaps, make closer appeal to the 

 general inquirer, is the story of the fulfilment of 

 Huxley's prophecy as to the discovery of the pedigree 

 of the horse, which, down to 1870, had been traced 

 to a three-toed ancestor. 



1 " Obituary Notice of T. H. Huxley," by Sir Michael Foster. 

 Proc. Royal Society , vol. lix. 



