15^ MEMOIKS OF 



form, but which move in water witli greater or 

 less rapidity. The polypes only exceed these 

 by having an invariable figure, and some dis- 

 tinct members round the mouth ; several of 

 them, fixed to the solid masses which they them- 

 selves produce, have no motion but in their 

 members, and are incapable of changing place. 

 The radiata, or sea-nettles, ascend in organis- 

 ation, by having several ramifications of the in- 

 testinal canal. The echinodermes possess an 

 envelope more or less hard, and their numerous 

 members serve them for progressive motion. At 

 this point the star form disappears, and gives 

 place to the symmetrical, where similar parts are 

 disposed along a line or axis. Almost all of the 

 most simple of these, the intestinal worms, live in 

 other animals ; they have neither members, nor 

 heart, nor blood vessels ; their body is elongated, 

 and sometimes articulated." To these succeed 

 insects, &c. &c. and the whole concludes with a 

 comparison between plants and animals. 



It is not the just appreciation of Linnaeus and 

 Buffon only that we owe to M. Cuvier: there 

 is yet another celebrated writer, whose real value 

 may be gathered from his labours ; and the pro- 

 found learning evinced in the notes to M. Le- 

 maire's edition of Pliny show, that M. Cuvier 



