212 Coal in Canada. 



" It may appear strange that I should have included the preced- 

 ing disquisition in that part of my work which is headed Classi- 

 fication. Yet, it has been done deliberately. In the beginning 

 of this chapter, I have already stated that Classification seems to 

 me to rest upon too narrow a foundation when it is chiefly based 

 upon structure." Animals are linked together as closely by their 

 mode of development, by their relative standing in their respec- 

 tive classes, by the order in which they have made their appear- 

 ance upon earth, by their geographical distribution, and general- 

 ly by their connection with the world in which they live, as by 

 their anatomy. All these relations should, therefore, be fully 

 expressed in a natural classification ; and though structure fur- 

 nishes the most direct indication of some of these relations, al- 

 ways appreciable under every circumstance, other considerations 

 should not be neglected, which may complete our insight into 

 the general plan of creation. 



In characterizing the great branches of the animal kingdom, it 

 is not enough to indicate the plan of their structure, in all its 

 peculiarities ; there are possibilities of execution which are at 

 once suggested to the exclusion of others, and which should also 

 be considered, and so fully analyzed, that the various modes in 

 which such a plan may be carried out shall at once be made 

 apparent. The range and character of the general homologies 

 of each type should also be illustrated, as well as the general con- 

 ditions of existence of its representatives. In characterizing 

 classes, it ought to be shown why such groups constitute a class 

 and not merely an order, or a family ; and to do this satisfactorily, 

 it is indispensable to trace the special homologies of all the sys- 

 tems of organs which are developed in them, ft is not less im- 

 portant to ascertain the foundation of all the subordinate divisions 

 of each class ; to know how they differ, what constitutes orders, 

 what families, what genera, and upon what characteristics species 

 are based in every natural division." 



To be concluded in our next Number. 



ART. XXIII. — Coal in Canada. The Boivmanville Discovery. 



The thing that we cannot have, is always that which we most 

 desire, and the more richly we are endowed otherwise, the more 

 earnestly do we long for the one object that may have been with- 

 held. So it would seem to be with the Canadian public in the 



