remarks;
and to show how liable we are to error in supposing that whole groups of species have suddenly been produced. Even in so short an interval as that between the first and second editions of Pictet's
great work on Palæontology, published in 1844-46 and in
1853-57, the conclusions on the first appearance and disappearance of several groups of animals have been considerably modified; and a third edition would require still further changes. I may recall the well-known fact that in geological treatises, published not many years ago,
mammals were mammals were 1869 1872 |
the great class of mammals was 1859 1860 |
the whole class of mammals was 1861 1866 |
always spoken of as having abruptly come in at the commencement of the tertiary series. And now one of the richest known accumulations of fossil mammals
belongs
to the middle of the secondary series; and
....... 1866 1869 1872 | one 1859 1860 1861 |
true
mammals mammals 1866 1869 1872 | mammal 1859 1860 1861 |
have have 1866 1869 1872 | has 1859 1860 1861 |
been discovered in the new red sandstone at nearly the commencement of this great series. Cuvier used to urge that no monkey occurred in any tertiary stratum; but now extinct species have been discovered in India, South America, and in
Europe, Europe, 1869 1872 | Europe 1859 1860 1861 |
....... 1869 1872 | even 1859 1860 1861 |
as far back as the
miocene miocene 1869 1872 | eocene 1859 1860 1861 |
stage. Had it not been for the rare accident of the preservation of footsteps in the new red sandstone of the United States, who would have ventured to suppose that,
besides reptiles,
no less than at least thirty kinds of birds,
some of gigantic size, existed during that period? Notwithstanding that the number of joints shown in the fossil impressions correspond
with the number in the several toes of living birds' feet, some authors doubt whether the animals which left the
impressions were really birds. Not a fragment of bone has been discovered in these
beds. beds. 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
beds. Notwithstanding that the number of joints shown in the fossil impressions correspond with the number in the several toes of living birds feet, some authors doubt whether the animals which left the impressions were really birds. 1860 |
↑2 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869; present in 1872 | Not long ago, palæontologists maintained that the whole class of birds came suddenly into existence during the eocene period; but now we know, on the authority of Professor Owen, that a bird certainly lived during the deposition of the upper greensand; and still more recently, that strange bird, the Archeopteryx, with a long lizard-like tail, bearing a pair of feathers on each joint, and with its wings furnished with two free claws, has been discovered in the oolitic slates of Solenhofen.
Hardly any recent discovery shows more forcibly than this, how little we as yet know of the former inhabitants of the world.
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Until quite recently these authors might have maintained, and some have maintained, that the whole class of birds came suddenly into existence during
the eocene the eocene 1866 1869 |
an early tertiary 1860 1861 |
period; but now we know, on the authority of Professor
Owen, Owen, 1861 1866 1869 | Owen 1860 |
...OMIT 1861 1866 1869 |
(as may be seen in Lyells Manual), 1860 |
that a bird certainly lived during the deposition of the upper
greensand; greensand; 1866 1869 | greensand. 1860 | green-sand. 1861 |
and still more recently, that strange bird, the Archeopteryx, with a long lizard-like tail, bearing a pair of feathers on each joint, and with its wings furnished with two free claws, has been discovered in the oolitic slates of Solenhofen. Hardly any recent discovery shows more forcibly than this
how little we as yet know of the former inhabitants of the world. ↑2 blocks not present in 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872; present in 1859 | The most striking case, however, is that of the Whale family; as these animals have huge bones, are marine, and range over the world, the fact of not a single bone of a whale having been discovered in any secondary formation, seemed fully to justify the belief that this great and distinct order had been suddenly produced in the interval between the latest secondary and earliest tertiary formation.
But now we may read in the Supplement to Lyell's 'Manual,' published in 1858, clear evidence of the existence of whales in the upper greensand, some time before the close of the secondary period.
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I may give another instance,
which, which, 1861 1866 1869 1872 | which 1859 1860 |
from having passed under my own
eyes, eyes, 1861 1866 1869 1872 | eyes 1859 1860 |
has much struck me. In a memoir on Fossil Sessile Cirripedes, I have
stated that, from the
|