THE STATE GEOLOGIST. 63 



these bones being regarded by many as remains of human giants, 

 the most famous specimen passing for the actual skeleton of 

 Teutobochus rex. But it would prove altogether too lengthy a 

 task for the limits of the present article to sketch even rapidly the 

 history of this branch of natural science since the time of Linne 

 and Artedi, the two great Swedish naturalists with whom the 

 scientific study of fishes properly begins. It is to be noted, how- 

 ever, that very few contributions can be claimed to- have mater- 

 ially advanced the science of palaeichthyology prior to the time 

 of Louis Agassiz, whose well known "Poissons Possiles" con- 

 stitues even to this day the most valuable repository of informa- 

 tion we have on the whole subject. 



In Agassiz's monograph are enumerated more than one thou- 

 sand species of fossil fishes, the greater part of which are carefully 

 described and excellently illustrated. The publication of this 

 work marked an epoch, not only in palaeontology, but general 

 zoology as well, since one of its most brilliant results was the 

 discovery of certain fundamental laws, a knowledge of which has 

 aided wonderfully in strengthening the doctrine of evolution. 

 Without doubt the most far-reaching of these in its consequences 

 is the analogy which he pointed out between the embryonic phases 

 of recent fishes and the geological succession of the class; whence 

 followed the generalization, "The history of the individual is but 

 the epitomized history of the race." Another notable result was 

 the recognition of his so-called prophetic or synthetic types, or 

 such as embrace features in their organization which afterwards 

 become distributed amongst various groups, never again to be 

 recombined. Yet more fruitful was Agassiz's insistence that the 

 comparative anatomy of a group, including its palseontological 

 record, should be studied in connection with the comparative 

 embryology of the same; since, as he maintained, "the results of 

 these two methods of inquiry complete and control each other." 



Since the time of Louis Agassiz the scientific investigation of 

 fossil fishes has made steady and most satisfactory progress. The 

 ichthyic faunas of different horizons and localities are known 

 in many cases almost as well as those of modern regions, and 

 details of structure have been worked out in the most minute 

 and painstaking manner. Our knowledge of the history of this 



