20 mii.i,i;tin 111, rMn:i» statls na.ional mi'skum. 



.....I.avuml toiMrlmh-all tin' works in wl.id. the liatrad.ia a:nl their 

 j,„,,,,,,, „Ml .•Mrn.i.l .Tlali.His l,:.v,. lu-n. rxpirssly ronsuhTcl iin.l new 

 virus iiiln.Iiir.Ml. Tlu' s.vst.'in Nvhicli app.Mrs to tlic wriUT Lirxprnss 



., |,,iiv(l,.. ni.tiiiMl r.-h.tioiis..r the. •oiilfiitsc.r the class IS pri'soulnl 



i„ ,,„, ,„n„„.i„.- pat,M.s. I!..t I d.v-W " IV-w words to n(...uM.dMt.nv. 



TlH- earliest name lor a -iven eoii(ri)tion derived from individnais is 

 ,,I„pi,(l Species must bo deliiicd or li<;'m<'d; Hi'>'<'''ii i>"<l "" '"M'km- 

 nnuips iimst be deline.l, since (i.univs cannot express the neuerali/a 

 Tlmis snch names are inteinled t.. represent. As tlie conception oCtlie 

 rxtcnt of a -enns varies witli discovery, it is impossible to reciiiire that 

 ,1„, .iHlniti.m accoMipanvin-' its earliest name shall be necessarily exact, 



s„ (iiiita 1 a tide delinition is all that is oblijjalory, according' to the 



inlcs. Ill the case c!" the lii.uher ;;r(.nps the case is dillereiit. It has 

 been ciisloinaiv to rcipiire that the delinition acconipanyiiifr the name 

 adopted shall coiTesi.ond with the thing adopted. 11" the deliiiition 

 does not so correspond, tiie name has generally reinained nniisctl. Such 

 names are the Mntabilia and Immiitabilia, ("adneibranchiata and IVreii 

 iiibranchiata, which have been applied to systi'nnitic ideas not in corre 

 spondence with the true rehitionships of the members of the riatraehii. 

 They have fallen accordingly into disuse. Sach are also the so called 

 orders Kmydosanria and Sanrophidia. The division then receives the 

 name which was first aiM'lied to it, and not to something more or less 

 corresponding to it on ommissioii or addition of contents, The rank as- 

 s'gned to such division is immaterial; the idea of the division itself is 

 everything. 



Applying these principles to the vertebrates which form the subject 

 of this book, I lind the following to be the names to be adopted. I find 

 that Ihongiiiart first perceived the correct limitation of the iJatratdiia, 

 and that in 1S(M) he gave it that name. In this he was followed by La 

 treillein ISOt: by I)audin,in ISOL*-.'); by Dnineril, in ISIU ; by Lamarck, 

 in 18l»l>; by ('avier, in 1801) and in 1817; by .Merrein,in bSliO; by ilarlaii, 

 in 1825; hy Dumeril and Hibron, in 1811; and by various modern writers 

 since that date. The name Amphibia I find first used by Dc r.lainvllle 

 in 181(5 as intcn^hangeable with the name Xiidipellifcri, and also as a 

 siibili vision of itself eipial to the I'eiennibranchiates of somk; later au- 

 thors. The name is first definitely adopted by liatreillein ISL'o, a^jnar- 

 ter of a century after the introduction of the name IhUrachia. lie is 

 followed after a long interval by Ilacckel in 18(!(!, who, howexcr. uses 

 the name Amphibia as interchangeable witli IJafracliia. It is ex(du 

 sively used by Ilnxley and by (legenbaur, and by a number of modern 

 naturalists, chiefly anatomists. From the ab:)ve record it is (inite evi- 

 dent that the proper name for this class is Matrachia. 



The true classification of the (contents of the (dasa wa.s of much later 

 discovery. The tailless division was recognized, it is true, by the earlier 

 authors: and, first of all, in 17(!8 by Laureuti. who called it the Salient ia 

 audgaveitadeUuition. This naniL' must be therefore retained. The di vis- 



I 



