ANALOGIES OF THE ORDERS. 113 



and thus, by the paucity of her analogical characters, 



relative to one 

 group only, she 

 is enabled, as it 

 were, to disperse 

 the rest over a 

 number of others, 

 but of which, each 

 — as the inevi- 

 table consequence 

 of this rule — 

 can possess only one or two. 



(100.) The two comparisons which we shall now 

 institute, illustrate, and will tend to confirm, the above 

 remarks : the first will be between the primary types, 

 or orders of fishes, and those of the entire circle of the 

 Annulosa; the second will be between the fishes and 

 the primary groups of the reptiles. 



Primary Divisions .,,„,.„,■„, Primary Divisions 



of Fishes. analogies. of Ve rlebrata. 



Acanthopteryges. ? The most highly organised groups f Quadrupeds. 



Mal.ycoptehyges. 3 ™ their respective circles. \ Birds. 



Cartilagines. Mostly viviparous. Reptiles. 



„ C Semi-aquatic. No true teeth, or 7 , .. 



Plectognathes. \ scales j Amphibians. 



Apodes. Posterior limbs or n us small or none. Fishes. 



Whether the two first groups in each of these 

 columns present any absolute points of resemblance in 

 their structure, we know not; hut certain it is, that the 

 osseous fishes^ as no less an authority than Cuvier main- 

 tains, are the most perfect in their own class^ just as 

 the warm-blooded Vertehrata are in the opposite column. 

 We have already endeavoured to account for the rever- 

 sion, as it seemSj of the analogies in the two typical 

 divisions of this class ; for, were it not so, it might 

 almost be thought that, as the organs of locomotion are 

 most developed in birds-., and pelagic or acanthopterous 

 fishes, they would be analogous, as in this respect they 

 certainly are : while the ground fisheSj or Malacop- 



VOL. I. i 



