324 LOWEST CLASSES OF VERTEBRATES 



THE LANCELETS 



Class Leptocardii 



The long and interesting chain of Vertebrates ends in a 

 very weak and insignificant Hnli. The great work entitled 

 "Fishery Industries of the United States" dismisses this 

 creature with only two and a half lines, and leaves three- 

 fourths of the page blank. 



And truly, the Lancelet, or Amphioxus,^ is not a creature 

 calculated to arouse enthusiasm. Its skeleton is composed 

 of membranes and cartilages. It has no brain, nor even a 

 skull in which to develop one. It is neither eel-like nor 

 worm-like, but as its name implies, it is shaped like the head 

 of a lance. The middle line of the body is provided with 

 weak and indifferent fins. There is no proboscis, and the 

 mouth is slit-like, and fringed with hair-like filaments. All 

 the above characters, and many others of a purely technical 

 nature, are set forth in "The Fishes of North and Middle 

 America," where eight species are recognized. 



These small, naked, colorless and translucent creatures 

 are found "embedded in the sand in the shallow waters of 

 warm coasts throughout the world." They are of special 

 interest only because they are the lowest of the Vertebrates, 

 and on the whole they constitute a very ignominious ending 

 for the highest grand division of Nature. 



And thus ends our bird's-eye view of the Vertebrates, 

 setting forth the prominent types and examples which every 



' The West Indian Lancelet {Brach-i-os'to-ma car-i-bae'um) is found from Beau- 

 fort, North Carolina, to the mouth of the La Plata. 



