Remarks on Classification of Vertebrata. 913 
_ REMARKS ON CLASSIFICATION OF VERTE- 
i BRATA. 
BY BURT G. WILDER. 
i k classifications of animals present three general — 
^2 features : 
= (2) An approximate conformity to the prevailing idea that the 
kinds or grades of groups, the “ categories” of the elder Agassiz, 
àre limited to branch, class, order, family, genus, and species, 
_ with, in some cases, the recognition of intermediate grades,— 
#8, sub-class, superorder, etc. 
(0) The division of a given group into an indefinite number of 
_ Subdivisions, commonly more than two,—e.g., of natural objects 
_ into three kingdoms; of animals into four, five, or seven branches ; 
_ vertebrates into five or more classes. 
oe (c) The frequent discrimination of groups by characters which 
are neither constant nor peculiar, and derived from parts like the 
- Skeleton or limbs examined, and de- 
Scribed 
The accompanying arrangement is partial,.and in several re- 
“pects provisional. It accords essentially with the more recent 
‘oh of high authorities, but attention is called to the following 
‘Ratures ; 
(2) It is wholly dichotomous. 
g Several of the divisions are based upon the conditions of 
cautes of the central nervous system. 
o ) The new names refer to characters which are constant and 
"47, so that they are not merely designatory in a conventional 
“se, but etymologically and descriptively correct? 
W -e names are largely correlated so as to suggest their 
antitheses, 
he fully appreciates the undesirability of introducing 
a S, and by no means urges the adoption of ay here 
ph  SXcepting as expressive and convenient substitutes for 
*Read at the New y r : “oe He 
da ork meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
On this 2, Ug. 12, 1887. sitar a 
Ae. Proc. oa See the writer’s “ Educational Museums of Vertebrates,” Amer. ae 
ob 276, 
s 
