Lastly, one single member of the immense and diversified class of fishes, namely, the lancelet or amphioxus, is so different from all other fishes, that Häckel maintains that it ought to form a distinct class in the vertebrate kingdom. This fish is remarkable for its negative characters; it can hardly be said to possess a brain, vertebral column, or heart, etc., so that it was classed by the older naturalists among the worms. Many years ago Professor Goodsir perceived that the lancelet presented some affinities with the Ascidians, which are invertebrate, hermaphrodite, marine creatures permanently attached to a support. They hardly appear like animals, and consist of a simple, tough, leathery sack, with two small projecting orifices. They belong to the Molluscoida of Huxley--a lower division of the great kingdom of the Mollusca; but they have recently been placed by some naturalists among the Vermes or worms. Their larvæ somewhat resemble tadpoles in shape, and have the power of swimming freely about. M. Kovalevsky has lately observed that the larvæ of Ascidians are related to the Vertebrata, in their manner of development, in the relative position of the nervous system, and in possessing a structure closely like the _chorda dorsalis_ of vertebrate animals; and in this he has been since confirmed by Professor Kupffer. * * * * * [Page 160.] Thus, if we may rely on embryology, ever the safest guide in classification, it seems that we have at last gained a clew to the source whence the Vertebrata were derived. We should then be justified in believing that at an extremely remote period a group of animals existed, resembling in many respects the larvæ of our present Ascidians, which diverged into two great branches--the one retrograding in development and producing the present class of Ascidians, the other rising to the crown and summit of the animal kingdom by giving birth to the Vertebrata. FROM NO BONE TO BACKBONE. [Page 164.]