440 ZOOLOGY. 
year past, another large quarto volume on the trilobites, by M. 
Barrande, the distinguished paleontologist, has appeared, illus- 
trated with numerous plates. The author strongly opposes, on 
paleontological grounds, the prevalent evolutional theories. His 
conclusions we present as briefly as possible; they are of great — 
weight as coming from so experienced and able an observer. He — 
thinks that there is no trace of a gradual improvement of the — 
original type whatever in the entire series of the trilobites. In — 
considering the fossil Crustacea of the earliest Silurian formation — 
of Europe, he regards the coexistence of their principal types; — 
such as the Phyllopodes, and the Ostracodes, with the trilobites — 
of the primordial fauna, so well exhibited in England and Sweden, — 
as constituting an important fact. ‘Indeed, among the positive 
facts of paleontology, there are none which would lead us to 
suppose that forms so contrasted, as we have just indicated, 7 
were derived from a common ancestry, by means of filiation or - 
transformation. This descent is thus far a pure creation of the a 
imagination.” Again he says, ‘ The great difference of structure - : 
which separates the type of trilobites and the types of these two 
orders (Ostracodes and Phyllopodes) carries us back to a "e a 
distant age before the Silurian primordial fauna, if we suppos% 
according to theory, that they were all derived from a common 
ancestry. This supposition will oblige us to admit that all “oe 
intermediate forms have invariably disappeared in all the countries ; 
of the globe, and in a long series of anteprimordial deposits, 
unknown up to this day.” That this inexplicable disappearance, 
even if accounted for by future discoveries, would only give win 
still more formidable facts opposed to evolution, Barrande 7 E 
would be the case; and he goes on to say that the trilobites. 
the “second fauna” of the Lower Silurian rocks of Bohemi 
make their first appearance, acçompanied not only by i tye 
of Ostracodes, Primitia and Beyrichia, but also with two w 
Cirripedes, or barnacles, perfectly characterized, and which 3% 
calls Anatifopsis and Plumulites. 4 
Difficulties such as these rise at each step, he adds, in OUE 
ontological studies, and it has resulted from his work, 
instead of establishing zoological connections, and 9 8 
transition between the different types of Silurian Crustacea 
the contrary the contrasts in their conformation were i 
during those primitive ages, than in those posterior, and tà 
suddenness of appearance of each of them, with the compl? 
mi 
o 
