41 
were not wanting. We may read a lesson in the failure, now 
so apparent, of the most ambitious of all. Haeckel* in one 
of his singular " Stammbaume," where the elaborate com- 
plexity of the table disguises the scantiness of the data, 
places the Protopteri (= Dipnoi), Ichthyosauri and Amphibia 
in one line of descent, and traces out successively the Plagi- 
ostomi, the Ganoidei, and the Teleostei in another. It will 
be seen immediately how far from the mark the whole 
pedigree has proved to be. Professor Rolleston well ob- 
serves :t " Whether the general theory ^' (of evolution) **be 
accepted as a whole or not, it must be allowed that in the 
face, on the one hand, of our knowledge of the greatness of 
the unlikeness, which may be compatible with specific iden- 
tity ; and, on the other, of our ignorance of the entirety of 
the geological record, special ' Phylogenies', or hypothetical 
genealogical pedigrees, reaching far out of modern periods, 
are likely to remain in the very highest degree arbitary and 
problematical." 
In the early part of 1870, Mr. Krefft, of Sydney, 
announced the discovery of a new dipnous fish, and added 
that the teeth resembled in a remarkable manner those of 
Ceratochis, a well-known fossil of the lower secondary forma- 
tions. The fish was obtained from several rivers in Queens- 
land, where it occurs in both fresh and brackish waters. 
Specimens have since reached Europe, and Dr. Giinther's 
account of the dissection has now been presented to the 
Royal Society. J From his description the following account 
is abridged : — 
The Ceratodus (Barmmunda of the natives) is a large 
fish, attaining a length of six feet. It is stated to be capable 
of sustaining prolonged exposure to the air. In figure it is 
* Schopfungggescliiclite, 2nd edition, 1870, p. 517. 
+ Forms of Animal Life, p. xxv. 
t Proceedings R. S., voL xix. p. 377. See also Nature, Sep. 21, 187L 
