In the systematic account which followed the above chapter in the 9th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, the following classification, which is the same as that given in the author's _Introduction to the Study of Fishes_ (London, 1880) was adopted by Albert Günther:-- Subclass I. : PALAEICHTHYES. Order I. : _Chondropterygii._ With two suborders : Plagiostomata and Holocephala. Order II. : _Ganoidei._ With eight suborders : Placodermi, Acanthodini, Dipnoi, Chondrostei, Polypteroidei, Pycnodontoidei, Lepidosteoidei, Amioidei. Subclass II. : TELEOSTEI. Order I. : _Acanthopterygii._ With the divisions Perciformes, Beryciformes, Kurtiformes, Polynemiformes, Sciaeniformes, Xiphiiformes, Trichiuriformes, Cotto-Scombriformes, Gobiiformes, Blenniformes, Mugiliformes, Gastrosteiformes, Centrisciformes, Gobiesociformes, Channiformes, Labyrinthibranchii, Lophotiformes, Taeniiformes and Notacanthiformes. Order II. : _Acanthopterygii Pharyngognathi._ Order III. : _Anacanthini._ With two divisions : Gadoidei and Pleuronectoidei. Order IV. : _Physostomi._ Order V. : _Lophobranchii._ Order VI. : _Plectognathi._ Subclass III. : CYCLOSTOMATA. Subclass IV. : LEPTOGARDII. It was an artificial system, in which the most obvious relationships of the higher groups were lost sight of, and the results of the already fairly advanced study of the fossil forms to a great extent discarded. This system gave rise to much adverse criticism; as T. H. Huxley forcibly put it in a paper published soon after (1883), opposing the division of the main groups into Palaeichthyes and Teleostei: "Assuredly, if there is any such distinction to be drawn on the basis of our present knowledge among the higher fishes, it is between the Ganoids and the Plagiostomes, and not between the Ganoids and the Teleosteans"; at the same time expressing his conviction, "first, that there are no two large groups of animals for which the evidence of a direct genetic connexion is better than in the case of the Ganoids and the Teleosteans; and secondly, that the proposal to separate the Elasmobranchii (Chondropterygii of Günther), Ganoidei and Dipnoi of Müller into a group apart from, and equivalent to, the Teleostei appears to be inconsistent with the plainest relations of these fishes." This verdict has been endorsed by all subsequent workers at the classification of fishes.