ON THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. ^07 



of four, as stated by Cuvier; but indeed both Lamarck 

 and De Blainville have already sufficiently, though not 

 directly, proved the necessity of the Acrita being sepa- 

 rated from the Radiata. " La denomination d'animaux 

 rayonnis" says Lamarck, " ne leur convient pas plus que 

 la prectdente (Zoophytes) ; car elk nepeut s'appliquer qu'a 

 mie partie d'enir'eux; et il s'en trouve beaucoup parmi eux 

 qui n'ont absolument rien de la forme rayonnante." The 

 very name of Radiaires, as given by Cuvier to the last di- 

 vision he makes in the scale of animals, evidently excludes 

 his Intestinaux, Polypes tius, Polypes a polypiers, and In- 

 fusoires. It is true that many of the Polypi, svich as the 

 Polypes a polypier, inhabit tubes which take a variety of 

 radiated forms, but there is nothing to show that the anif 

 mals themselves have the radiated organization which is 

 so conspicuous in the Asterias, JEchinus, &c. For if the 

 tentacula or feelers with which the mouth of a polype is 

 furnished be conceived to indicate the animal as belonging 

 to the Radiata, we shall by the same rule be obliged to 

 place in this group many of the Annulosa as well as 

 Mollusca. As for the intestinal worms, they exhibit at 

 present to the naturalist nothing but a mass of confusion, 

 which Avill require a great portion both of time and 

 trouble to unravel. M. Cuvier obsei^ving that some of 

 them have at least two nervous fibres or threads shooting 

 out from a circle round the mouth, has considered this 

 property as indicative of their connexion with the Radi- 

 ata. But this observation would in my opinion be of 

 much greater force in proving them to be annulose anir 

 mals, and I have indeed but little doubt that many of them 

 possess a much greater affinity to the Annulosa than is 

 at present suspected. . . 



