fifth generation, and even later. Among the Aphides it 

 is sometimes the eight or ninth generation before the per- 

 fect animals appear again, and the original ancestor is 

 able to recognize his descendant by any resemblance to 

 himself." It must occur to any one that this singular 

 process would give rise to many mistakes, both in the an- 

 imal's own family and the family of scientists, awkward 

 : and inconvenient ; and the fact is that naturalists in sev- 

 eral instances have seized eagerly upon one of the interme- 

 diate descendants and have described and classified him 

 as a separate, distinct and new animal, to their subse- 

 quent confusion and the embarrassment of entomologists 

 and zoologists. The thought suggests itself further that 

 possibly some one of these intermediate links might, un- 

 der an evolution inspiration, set up in business for itself, 

 and, refusing to take its absolutely necessary step around 

 and back towards its ancestral model, start a new, odd, 

 nondescript, unclassifiable, unscientific family of its own. 

 in contempt of Cuvier, Linnaeus and Von Baer, and in 

 reckless disregard of the abolished number sixth, seventh, 

 or eighth animal which, by this erratic behavior, never 

 had a chance to enjoy its hour life of sunlight. Some 

 such peril as this does the ultra-technical scientist under- 

 go. Agassiz avoided it by his clear comprehension of the 

 popular mind ; his remarkable faculty for elucidating the 

 abstrusest subjects, and his scorn of pedantry. Here is 

 one of the lessons of his life — a lesson for thinkers — a 

 •lesson for the privileged few who walk upon the moun- 

 tain tops of thought — a lesson, too, for educated men on 

 a lower plateau, who yet overlook the great plains where- 

 in crowd and swarm the multitude waiting for signals, for 

 men of education and culture stand as did the trusted sig- 

 nal keepers two or three centuries ago on the coast of Eng- 

 land. It was their duty, watching on the hill tops, to 

 kindle great fires on the approach seaward of a strange 

 fleet, thus warning the country inland, which sent on and 

 on the warning, till it reached the whole island, when 

 the dwellers in valleys and lowlands were as well in- 

 formed as those on the coast and mountains. 



