In 1866 the Russian embryologist Kowalewsky startled the zoological world with a minute account of the developmental changes of Ascidia, one of the Tunicata, 5 and it became evident that the affinities of that class were with the Vertebrata, whilst their structural agreements with Mollusca were only superficial.
The morphologist may propose classifications, and the embryologist may erect genealogical trees, but all schemes which do not agree with the direct evidence of fossils must be abandoned; and it is this evidence, above all, that gained enormously in volume and in value during the last quarter of the 19th century.
All the way back in 1902, scientist and embryologist Hans Spemman, meticulously sliced a 2-celled salamander embryo by using a single hair from his infant son's head.