for Systematic Biology. 427 



neglect of this teaching which has made modern Systematic 

 Zoology what Dr Dohrn calls it, an Augean stable." We know 

 not at present whether the soft parts of corals are even specifically 

 variable or not 1 . Until they be examined, Mr Bernard's system 

 of classification is not proved to be in any way more necessary — 

 let alone desirable or scientifically admissible — for the Madre- 

 poraria than for any other division of the animal kingdom. 



[Note. The question of species and varieties, which has been 

 to some extent discussed in the foregoing article for corals, has 

 been ably considered in Crustacea by Mr L. A. Borradaile in 

 a paper " On Varieties in Marine Crustaceans," Fauna and Geo- 

 graphy of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes, Vol. I. Pt. a. 

 pp. 183 et seq. (1902).] 



1 In this connection vide "On the Species of the Genus Millepora," by Sidney 

 J. Hickson, Proc. Zool. Soc. pp. 246—257, 1898. 



