I 



Report on Zoology. 



133 



perhaps with equal genius, returned to the linear system of 

 arrangement, and while to-day we may reject much of his 

 system and regard some of his doctrines as pregnant with 

 errors, we can not deny that some of the most advanced 

 doctrines of the present time received their impress and 

 their impetus from the teachings of this naturalist. 



And now when there come threats from many different 

 and independent sources of the overthrow of the doctrine 

 of the four great fundamental types of animal life, the great 

 branches upon which hang the whole of our system of clas- 

 sification, and when there are decided intimations from 

 distinguished naturalists that the natural system is to 

 be regarded as a genealogical record rather than as a 

 typical expression of ideas, the threatened revolution may 

 after all be found to be only another grand step toward 

 a perfect system. 



Among the new text books upon the subject of zoology, 

 that of Prof. Geo. Rolliston, The Forms of Animal Life, 

 doubtless takes the first rank, and is one of the most im- 

 portant works of its kind that has been issued. It is 

 an outline of classification, based upon anatomical investi- 

 gations, and illustrated by descriptions of specimens, 

 and by figures. " The distinctive character of the book 

 consists in its attempting so to combine the concrete 

 facts of zootomy with the outlines of systematic classifi- 

 cation, as to enable the student to put them for himself into 

 their natural relations of foundation and superstructure." 1 



A manual of zoology, of less pretentions than this, but a 

 valuable work for students in schools and colleges, is Dr. 

 A. H. Nicholson's book. Both these books are English 

 works. 



In our own country, the state of Massachusetts has re- 

 published a most valuable contribution to zoology, en- 



1 Preface. 



