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studies. Indeed it is but natural to expect 

 that more attention should be given to the 

 examination of new species, than to a rigid 

 criticism of genera. A knowledge of the 

 former is doubtless of great importance, 

 but the latter will enable us to detect the 

 delicate affinities by which the different 

 classes of organized beings are approxi- 

 mated, if not brought into absolute contact. 

 We are aware that the idea of a chain of 

 beings has been ridiculed as a philosophi- 

 cal reverie, but the more this question is 

 examined with the light afforded by modern 

 observation, the firmer will this opinion be 

 established. Already we hear the terms, 

 "natural series" " annectant groups" "re- 

 gular series," and other expressions which 

 mark the first glimmerings of light on this 

 hitherto obscure subject. And when we 

 reflect that these affinities have been for 

 the most part drawn from external and ob- 

 vious characters, that we have yet much to 

 learn from the internal anatomy, that new 

 species are continually discovered which 

 connect hitherto separate genera, and final- 

 ly, that every day brings with it the disco- 

 very of some extinct animal, whose struc- 



