with a Description of a New Species. 93 



sidered one of the glories of scientific literature in Europe, 

 and being undertaken on such an immense scale, it is truly 

 wonderful, amid the wars, revolutions, and convulsions to 

 which Europe was then subject, how it was ever brought to 

 a conclusion.* In those days of the Lirmgeun classification 

 Vers (or worms) included an important portion of the 

 animal kingdom. Tnsecta and Vermes were the two grand 

 divisions of the invertebrate animals. In the latter the 

 testaceous mollusca occupied an order by themselves. The 

 naked tribes were placed in another order along with 

 radiated Zoophytes — annelids, parasitical worms, and the 

 echinodermata. Brugiere's part of the volumes was termi- 

 nated at the word " cone," which completed the first v T olume 

 of his contribution. He never lived to finish another. He 

 started, in company with the naturalist Olivier, to visit Asia 

 Minor, in order to enrich his work with fresh observations ; 

 but he died before this undertaking was completed. The 

 greater part of his notes were subsequently lost in 

 consequence of the premature death of his companion. 

 Brugiere attempted an improvement on the system of 

 Linnaeus. He divided the Vermes into six orders ; in the 

 last of which he placed the Zoophytes. He adopted the old 

 genera without proposing new ones. He gives a complete 

 history of the species ; and Lamouroux says his synonomy is 

 more exact than that of Gmelin. His efforts in the way of 

 systematising carried zoology onward some steps. He made 

 a distinct class of the star-fish and sea-urchins, under the 

 name of echinodermata (see Tabular System of the Vermes, 

 p. 6). 



Except lor the observations of Herder, Poiret, and Olivi, 

 nothing seems to have been done for the Polyzoa until the 

 time of John Baptist de Lamarck. This most remarkable 

 naturalist was born in Picardy, in 1749. He distinguished 

 himself first in a military career, and then applied himself 

 to the study of medicine, which he soon quitted to devote 

 himself to botany. His first work was the Flora Francaise, 

 which appeared in 1773. Another edition, augmented con- 

 siderably by Alphonse P. de Candolle, appeared in 1805 ; 

 and a third, with a sixth supplemental volume, in 1815. In 

 1788 he was attached as botanist to the king's collection ; 

 and when this establishment was amalgamated under the 



*It is a work of over a hundred volumes. The only Australian copy 

 known to me is in the Melbourne Public Library, presented by Mr. Mac- 

 gregor, M.L.A, 



