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Huxley's early papers do not appear to have in all cases at first received the consideration they deserved. The only important one which was published before his return was the one 'On the Anatomy and Affinities of the Family of the Medusæ.'

After his return, however, there was a rapid succession of valuable Memoirs, the most important, probably, being those on Salpa and Pyrosoma, on Appendicularia and Doliolum and on the Morphology of the Cephalus Mollusca.

In recognition of the value of these Memoirs he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851, and received a Royal Medal in 1852. Lord Rosse, in presenting it, said: "In these papers you have for the first time fully developed their (the Medusæ) structure and laid the foundation of a rational theory for their classification." "In your second paper, 'On the Anatomy of Salpa and Pyrosoma,' the phenomena, etc., have received the most ingenious and elaborate elucidation, and have given rise to a process of reasoning the results of which can scarcely yet be anticipated, but must bear, in a very important degree, upon some of the most abstruse points of what may be called transcendental physiology."

A very interesting result of his work on the Hydrozoa was the generalization that the two layers in the bodies of Hydrozoa (Polyps and Sea Anemones), the Ectoderm and the Entoderm correspond with the two primary germ layers of the higher animals. Again, though he did not discover or first define protoplasm, he took no small share in making its importance known, and in bringing naturalists to recognize it as the physical basis of life, and in demonstrating the unity of animal and plant protoplasm.

Among other important memoirs may be mentioned those 'On the Teeth and the Corpuscula Tactus,' 'On the Tegumentary Organs,' 'Review of the Cell Theory,' 'On Aphis,' and many others.

His paleontological work, for which he has told us that at first lie did not care,' began in 1855. That 'On the Anatomy and Affinities of the Genus Pterygotus' is still a classic; in another, 'On the Structure of the Shields of Pteraspis,' and in one 'On Cephalaspis,' in 1858, he for the first time clearly established their vertebrate character; his work 'On Devonian Fishes' in 1861 threw quite a new light on their affinities; and amongst other later papers may be mentioned that 'On Hyperodapedon;' 'On the Characters of the Pelvis,' 'On the Crayfish,' and one botanical memoir, 'On the Gentians,' the outcome of one of his Swiss trips.

One of the most striking results of his paleontological work was the clear demonstration of the numerous and close affinities between reptiles and birds, the result of which is that they are regarded by many as forming together a separate group, the Sauropsida; while the Amphibia, long regarded as reptiles, were separated from them and united with fishes