312 BRITISH ENTOMOSTRACA. 



that with the scanty knoAvleclge he had of their habits and 

 history, Linnaeus should have considered their proper 

 place in the system of nature to be amongst his Mollusca ; 

 animals belonging to his class Vermes, and characterised 

 by him, from the softness of their body and the want of a 

 shell. The various editors and continuators of Linnaeus, 

 and most systematic writers, up to a late date, have more 

 or less strictly follow^ed his arrangement. Both Bruguiere, 

 in the ' Encyc. method.,' 1792, and Blumenbach, in his 

 * Handbuch,' 1779, have adopted his place for them in 

 their systematic arrangement. Cuvier, in his ' Tableau 

 elementaire,' 1798, arranges them amongst the Mollusca 

 gasteropoda, placing them along with those which have 

 free motion in the water. Lamarck, in his ' Systeme des 

 Anim. sans Verteb.,' 1801, likewise fixes them amongst 

 the Mollusca, arranging them with the naked MoUusques 

 cephaUs. Bosc also admits them among the Mollusca ; 

 but observes that they approach the intestinal worms. 

 Lamarck, dissatisfied with his first arrangement, after- 

 wards, in his 'Philosophic Zoologique,' 1809, removes 

 them to the Annelides, placing them along with the 

 Planaria? and Leeches. Still later, in his 'Extrait du 

 Cours de Zoologie,' 1812, he indicates the necessity of 

 forming a distinct class to receive them, which he calls 

 Epizoaires, a series of animals which he could not refer 

 exactly to any of the already determined classes of the 

 animal kinerdom : and in the ' Hist. Nat. Anim. sans 

 Verteb.,' first edition, 1816, in placing them amongst 

 the Epizoaria, he says, " these animals approach near to 

 worms and to insects, without belonging to either. They 

 indicate the existence of a particular series, wdiich may 

 probably form a new class, and which may properly fill up 

 the great void which exists between insects and worms." 

 Of this little group he adds, " I only at present make a 

 simple provisional indication." 



Oken, in 1815, in his 'Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte,' 

 following Linnaeus in placing the Lernese amongst the 

 Mollusca, was the first who commenced dividing them 



