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 palaeon- tological, the Commission, which consisted of MM. Elie de Beaumont, "Flourens, Isidore Geoffroy 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 docerl, 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 German 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 palaeontology. Any 'precis 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 No. 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 of Power between the Carnivorous ANi> Phytophagous Animals.
{Plant- eat ei's — Phytophaga.) {Flesh-eaters — Sarcophaga.)
Insects.
Myriapoda.
Trachearian Arachuids in small number.
Hexapoda ; many Diptera, all Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera, half the Hy- menoptera, nearly aU the Coleoptera.
Sea-turtles.
Some Natatores and Grallatores, most Gal- linese, Pigeons, many granivorous and frugivorous Passeres ; Is'ectaruiise.
Arachnids, the majority.
Hexapoda ; many Diptera, most Neurop- tera, half the Hymenoptera, some Cole- optera (Carabici), feed on other insects.
of the terrestrial types.
Most Natatores and Grallatores, Insecti- vorous Passeres ; Birds of prey.
Reptiles. I Most
Birds.
Mammalia.
Sirenia, Ruminantia, part of Pachydermata, Glires, most Bruta, some Cheiroptera, most Marsupials and Quadrumana.
Some Bruta and Marsupials, most Cheii-o- ptera, Insectivora and Carnivora, some Quadruraana.
