150 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



the great problem of the origin of species was indirectly involved, was un- 

 dertaken, in the year 1856, by two candidates. 



One of these treated the question in a summary manner ; he merely 

 examined a few very limited points of the question, and not the whole 

 series of the facts, which the Academy required of him. Accordingly, in 

 spite of many ingenious views, which were rather geological than palseon- 

 tological, the Commission, which consisted of MM. Elie de Beaumont, 

 Flourens, Isidore G-eoffroy St. Hilaire, Milne-Edwards, and Ad. Bron- 

 gniart, declined to receive the memoir into their consideration. 



The other memoir, bearing the significant inscription, or epigraph, Na- 

 tura doceri, being a quarto volume of nearly five hundred pages, with nu- 

 merous tables, received the prize of the Commission, and has been since 

 published both in the G-erman and French languages. 



The French translation is now before us ; and we must regard the pub- 

 lication of this magnificent work as forming an era in palseontology. Any 

 frecis of the argument of the author is clearly impossible. We give a few 

 of the tables which Professor Bronn employs, as specimens. 



Professor Bronn lays it down as a rule that omne ens ex aqua 

 (all beings have their origin in fluid), which he says is true not merely as 

 regards individual beings, but as regards sub-kingdoms and even kingdoms. 

 To exhibit this truth more clearly, he offers the Table jSIo. 1, where the 

 proportional numbers of the inhabitants of the sea, the freshwater, and 

 the dry land are indicated, in all the classes of the animal kingdom, so that 

 each class is represented in its entirety by the number 4, and it is indi- 

 cated in each class of one, two, three, or four, if its genera or species in- 

 habit the one or other of these elements ; those media of existence which 

 only number a few isolated inhabitants, being indicated by an asterisk (*). 

 Bronn adds the sign (!) when respiration by gills exist, and the double 

 sign (!!) when no specialized respiratory organ is developed. 



TABLE II. — Showing the Balance oe Power between the Carnitoeous 

 AND Phytophagous Animals. 



{Plant-eaters — Phytophaga.) {Flesh-eaters — Sarcojphaga.) 

 Insects. 



Myriapoda. Arachnids, the majority. 

 Trachearian Arachnids in small number. 



Hexapoda ; many Diptera, all Lepidoptera, Hexapoda ; many Diptera, most Neurop- 



Hemiptera, Orthoptera, half the Hy- tera, half the Hymenoptera, some Cole- 



menoptera, nearly all the Coleoptera. optera (Carabici), feed on other insects. 



Reptiles. 



Sea-turtlcs. | Most of the ten-estrial types. 



Birds. 



Some Natatorcs and Grallatores, most Gal- 

 lincrc, Pigeons, many granivorous and 

 frugivorous Passcres ; Ncctarinisc. 



Most Natatorcs and Grallatores, Insecti- 

 vorous Passeres ; Birds of prey. 



Mammalia. 



Sircnia, Runiinantia, part of Pachydermata, 

 Glircs. most Brnta, some Cheiroptera, 

 most Marsupials and Qnadrumana. 



Some Brut a and Marsupials, most Cheiro- 

 ptera, Inscctivora and Carnivora, some 

 Qnadrumana. 



