THE BRITISH FOSSIL BRACHIOPODA. 315 



Prof. W. King, 1 an acute and careful observer, who has made an attentive study of 

 the Brachiopoda, says, " The Palliobranchs have often been associated with Polyzoa ; 

 but lately Morse has endeavoured to show that they are more closely related to the 

 Annelida. There is no doubt he has succeeded in adducing certain points in his favour ; 

 but there are so many dissimilarities between the Annelids and the Palliobranchs (or 

 Brachiopods) that it is scarcely to be expected the polyzoonal alliance will be abandoned 

 by those who have contended for it, especially since the discovery of Rhabdopleura, a 

 marine form of Hippocrepian Polyzoa Although admitting that the Pallio- 

 branchs manifest affinities to the Annelids, Polyzoans, and Asterids, I cannot relinquish 

 the idea that they are more closely related to the Mollusca. If they do not possess 

 sufficient distinctive characters entitling them to rank as a more comprehensive division, 

 I would, instead of associating them with any of the groups above mentioned, prefer that 

 they should retain their old position in the sub-kingdom Mollusca, as defined by Cuvier." 



In this opinion of Prof. King I concur, for the more I consider the question the more 

 am I disposed to believe that the Brachiopoda should not be classed with the Vermes. 



In order to do all the justice possible to the zoologists who have studied the subject 

 under investigation, it will be necessary to allude to a most important and valuable 

 memoir by W. K. Brooks " On the Development of Lingula and the Systematic 

 Position of the Brachiopoda," published in the ' Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory, 

 Session 1878, 1879/ At p. 80, Brooks observes that "While most of the more recent 

 writers recognise a pretty close relation between the Polyzoa and the Brachiopoda, some 

 associate them with the Mollusca, others regard them as a related group (Molluscoidea), 

 and others associate them with the Vermes. Huxley, ' Anatomy of the Invertebrate 

 Animals,' p. 468, says : " The acceptance of the view originally propounded by Steenstrup, 

 and so ably urged by Morse, respecting the affinities of the Brachiopoda with the 

 Worms, does not, to my mind, weaken the opinion I have always held as to their affinities 

 with the Polyzoa on the one hand, and with the higher Mollusca on the other." At p. 453 

 he says : " The higher Mollusks, in fact, form the final term of a series of their own, which 

 commences in the Polyzoa, with animals which have many resemblances to the Rotifera." 

 Claus takes a somewhat similar view, 2 and places the Brachiopoda and Polyzoa together, 

 between the Annelida and Mollusca. Gegenbauer separates the Polyzoa from the Brachio- 

 poda, and places the former group among the Vermes ; while of the latter he makes a 

 primary group, which, however, he places near the Annelids. 3 According to Lankester, 

 the Brachiopoda and the Polyzoa are closely related to each other, and are to be asso- 

 ciated with the Mollusca ; but Lankester 's conception of the precise nature of this relation- 

 ship is different from that of any of the other authors quoted. He does not, like Huxley, 



1 ' Geol. Mag.,' Decade 2, vol. iv, p. 266, 1877. 



2 ' Grundzuge der Zoologie,' p. S21, 1876. 



3 « Grundriss der Verg. Anat.,' pp. 134 and 325, 1879. 



42 



