(FIGURE 2.210. The lancelet (Amphioxus lanceolatus), twice natural size, left view. The long axis is vertical; the mouth-end is above, the tail-end below; a mouth, surrounded by threads of beard; b anus, c gill-opening (porus branchialis), d gill-crate, e stomach, f liver, g small intestine, h branchial cavity, i chorda (axial rod), underneath it the aorta; k aortic arches, l trunk of the branchial artery, m swellings on its branches, n vena cava, o visceral vein. FIGURE 2.211. Transverse section of the head of the Amphioxus. (From Boveri.) Above the branchial gut (kd) is the chorda, above this the neural tube (in which we can distinguish the inner grey and the outer white matter); above again is the dorsal fin (fh). To the right and left above (in the episoma) are the thick muscular plates (m); below (in the hyposoma) the gonads (g). ao aorta (here double), c corium, ec endostyl, f fascie, gl glomerulus of the kidneys, k branchial vessel, ld partition between the coeloma (sc) and atrium (p), mt transverse ventral muscle, n renal canals, of upper and uf lower canals in the mantle-folds, p peribranchial cavity, (atrium), sc coeloma (subchordal body-cavity), si principal (or subintestinal) vein, sk perichorda (skeletal layer).) Johannes Muller classed the lancelet with the fishes, although he pointed out that the differences between this simple vertebrate and the lowest fishes are much greater than between the fishes and the amphibia. But this was far from expressing the real significance of the animal. We may confidently lay down the following principle: The Amphioxus differs more from the fishes than the fishes do from man and the other vertebrates. As a matter of fact, it is so different from all the other vertebrates in its whole organisation that the laws of logical classification compel us to distinguish two divisions of this stem: 1, the Acrania (Amphioxus and its extinct relatives); and 2, the Craniota (man and the other vertebrates). The first and lower division comprises the vertebrates that have no vertebrae or skull (cranium). Of these the only living representatives are the Amphioxus and Paramphioxus, though there must have been a number of different species at an early period of the earth's history.