HISTORY 
THE AMERICAN FAUNA. 
INVERTEBRATA. 
Cuvier and Lamarck introduced tlie terms Verte- 
brate and Invertebrate to designate tlie two great 
primary divisions of tlie Animal Kingdom ; those 
having no semblance of a backbone being embraced 
in the latter division. Aristotle recognized this dis- 
tinction when he regarded “all sanguineous animals” 
as having “either a bony or spinous column.” 'I'he 
Radiata, Articiilata and Mollusca were for a time 
acknowledged as the accepted division of the Inver- 
tebrates. Radiates, however, exhibit forms which, 
in their structural characters, cannot naturally be 
associated together, and a fifth sub-kingdom was, 
therefore, established, called Protozoa. The arrange- 
ment of the Invertebrate animals, according to Prof. 
Huxley, is as follows: 
1. — MoLLusci. IV. — Annulosa. 
II. — Moleuscoidea. V. — Annuloidea. 
III. — UtELENTERATA. VI. —INFUSORIA. 
VII. — Protozoa. 
Aristotle had named certain of these low forms, as 
Acalephae and Knidm; but Seba, and Klein, and 
Rondelet, contemporaneous authors of the sixteenth 
century, advanced the study to something like a sys- 
tem, yet without any attempt at classification. Ron- 
delet had studied and figured the marine animals of 
the Mediterranean. 'I’hese, however, are all grouped 
as Fishes, and, in some instances, his illustrations 
and descriptions are those fanciful forms of an earlier 
age. Cuvier was the first to present a scientific ex- 
amination of the structure and classification of these 
animals, particularly the Radiates. In the early part 
of the present century, the French nation associated 
scientific objects with the government expeditions. 
Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign resulted in the pro- 
duction of some of the finest work of French natural- 
ists, particularly the beautiful figures of Radiates 
given by Savigny, and obtained while attached to 
this expedition. 
In the years preceding the latter half of this century, 
the knowledge of Invertebrate forms in American 
waters was extremely limited. 'I’he few and 
Campannlarias then known were looked on with won- 
der, and called “ animal flowers.” In the vicinity of 
Boston, especially on the rocks and beaches of Na- 
hant, a few specimens were to be seen, chiefly the 
colxi 
one species. Actinia marginata, and sparsely, slender 
clusters of the pretty Hydroid tubularia; while the 
myriads of less conspicuous forms were not then re- 
cognized. 'I’he Massachusetts State Survey offered 
the first opportunity to give scientific attention to 
this subject ; the result of which was the publication, 
in 1841, of Invertebrata of Massachusetts, a report 
made by Dr. A. A. Gould, who had charge of that 
department of the survey. 'I’he Shell-fish are here 
very fully treated, while the etchings on copper are 
among the best that have been published. 'I’he 
labors of certain members of the Essex County Nat- 
ural History Society, and those of the Boston Soci- 
ety, added much information on the subject; while 
the Lyceum at New York and the Philadelphia 
Academy of Sciences were doing the same good 
work. Among the members of the Essex Society we 
recall with pleasure the names of Dr. Wheatland, 
Messrs. 'I’rue, Putnam and others, and at Lynn, 
Messrs. 'I’ufts and Haskell. — all zealous workers in the 
various branches of Marine Zoology. In later days, 
Agassiz (father and son), Leidy, Stimpson, Clark, 
Verrill and Gill have advanced the knowledge of our 
Invertebrates very materially. Prof. Verrill, of Yale 
College, at the head of the laboratory of the United 
States Fishery Commission, has had favorable oppor- 
tunities for investigation of the Marine Fauna, from the 
explorations ot that body, during the summer months, 
between Halifax, N. S., and Connecticut. This Com- 
mission, under the able management of Prof. Baird, by 
establishing its headquarters annually at a different 
camping-place between these points, and by means 
of a small steamer, well-fitted with the most approved 
apparatus, has discovered many new forms, found 
some which have heretofore been rare, and procured 
live specimens of others for the first time. 'I’hese 
aids to the study ot this branch of science have been 
fully appreciated. No better facilities were formerly 
found for such work, other than those afforded by the 
fisherman’s good-will and his kindly offerings out of 
his “ day’s fare ’’—such as a chance at his pile of offal, 
whereof the stomach and intestines were a mine of 
wealth. “Full many a gem” has thus been recov- 
ered from the 
“Maw, and gulf 
Of the ravin'd salt-sea Shark.” 
