Coiirs de VHistoire Naturelle des Mammiferes. 4^1 



these animals, are the analogues of the four ossicles of the ear 

 in the mammalia, birds, and reptiles. The results at which 

 the author arrives are startling, and at first view improbable ; 

 but the reader is captivated by the ingenuity of the reason- 

 ing, and the acuteness of the observer ; nor is he unwilKng 

 to follow him even when he goes on to prove that the cha- 

 racter which is supposed to separate the vertebral from the 

 invertebral animals has nothing in it real and discriminative. 

 The link which binds these primary divisions of modern 

 arrangements are not the Cephalopoda, as Cuvier's system 

 might indicate, nor the Heteropoda, as Lamarck might have 

 it; but it is formed with the Crustacea, which, according to 

 Saint- Hilaire, approximate fishes by many analogous cha- 

 racters of great weight. Thus, in both crabs and fish, re- 

 spiration is performed by the means of compound branchiae 

 acting in the same way. The digestive organs, those even of 

 generation, and, in general, all the systems essential to the 

 preservation of the individual, or to the continuance of the 

 species, present the same sort of analogy. But have the Crus- 

 tacea an osseous system ? Have they a vertebral column ? 

 Saint- Hilaire repHes in the affirmative; and points out, with 

 much ingenuity, the essential sameness and analogies of the 

 shell and skeleton. The rings of the shell are compared to 

 the rings of the vertebrae of the tortoise in particular; and 

 arguments are deduced from this resemblance, from the phe- 

 nomena presented in the growth of the vertebrae in general, 

 and from some particulars of structure observed in monsters, 

 &c., to prove that the external position of the shell, so far 

 from presenting any difficulty, is, in fact, in perfect accordance 

 with the theory, the shell being analogous to the vertebrae of 

 the higher classes in a foetal state. As for the difference in 

 their chemical composition, this, it is replied, is only in the 

 proportions of the component salts, and not in any difference 

 in the nature or quality of them. And, in truth, what " en 

 derniere analyse" is a bone but a salt, composed of phosphate 

 of lime in the higher, and of carbonate of lime in the lower 

 animals ? 



This doctrine, as we have already mentioned, was first 

 published in a consistent and philosophical form by Saint- 

 Hilaire, who has many disciples in France, and a greater 

 number in Germany ; where, indeed, some vain attempts have 

 been made to rob him of the merit of originality, or to share 

 that merit -with him. The doctrine, however, has likewise its 

 opponents, and among them is Cuvier, a host in himself. To 

 this prince of naturalists it seems untenable, even when re- 

 stricted in its application to the vertebral animals ; and he 



