9 
be one of the first animated beings of our earth call- 
ed into existence by the great Author of nature.* It 
was first noticed more than two centuries ago, among 
the petrifactions which abound in a calcareous rock, 
at Dudley, in England, and was from this circum- 
stance, called for a long time, the Dudley fossil. 
Linné gave it the name of the Paradozical insect; but 
whether an insect, a crustaceous animal, or a shell, is 
still considered by many as problematical. 
Notwithstanding the high antiquity of the family 
of the Trilobites, and the remarkable characters the 
different individuals which compose it, sustain in the 
animal kingdom; till within a very few years, the 
whole race has been almost entirely neglected by 
naturalists. The first attempt at any systematic ar- 
rangement of the genera and species, was made in 
1815, by Alexander Brongniart, Professor of Minera- 
logy, &c. &c., in Paris.t Until that period, the term 
* It is obvious, that if most of the gelatinous animals which 
now inhabit our seas, were to become extinct, few or no traces _ 
of them could be found in any succeeding depositions of earthy 
matter. Whatever kind of animal life, therefore, may have been 
the first which appeared in our planet, must be entirely hypothe- 
tical. All that we can with certainty say of it, is, that it was 
best adapted to the circumstances, in which it was to exist, and 
that it was consistent with the wisdom and design which we 
see every where pervading the universe. 
+ I cannot let this opportunity pass, without acknowledging 
my obligations to Professor Brongniart, for his civilities, when 
on a late visit to Paris. Every one whose curiosity leads him 
to examine the royal manufactory of porcelain, a Sevres, of 
