Origin of Species Variorum

Comparison with 1869

.. E. Forbes , have disputed this conclusion. We should not forget that only a small portion of the world is known with accuracy. Not long ago M. Barrande added another and lower stage, ... abounding with new and peculiar species beneath the old Silurian system. Traces of several forms have also been detected ... beneath Barrandes so-called primordial zone in the Longmynd group, now divided into two stages, and constituting the Lower Cambrian system. Still more recently, the remarkable discovery has been made by Torell of the remains of monocoty-ledonous plants in a Swedish formation, corresponding with the Longmynd group; so that terrestrial or freshwater plants existed several great stages lower down in the series than has hitherto been supposed. The presence also of phosphatic nodules and bituminous matter in some of the lowest azoic rocks, probably indicates life at these periods. Now the great discovery of the Eozoon in the Laurentian formation of Canada has been made, for after reading Dr. Carpenters description of this fossil, it is scarcely possible to doubt regarding its organic nature. ↑ There are three great series of strata beneath the Silurian system in Canada, in the lowest of which the Eozoon was found; and Sir W. Logan states that their united thickness may possibly far surpass that of all the succeeding rocks, from the base of the palæozoic series to the present time. We are thus carried back to a period so .. remote, that the appearance of the so-called Primordial fauna (of Barrande) may by some be considered .. as a comparatively modern event." The Eozoon belongs to the most lowly organised of all classes of animals, but for its class is highly organised; it existed in countless numbers, and, as Dr. Dawson has remarked, certainly preyed on other minute organic beings, which must have lived in great numbers. ↑ Thus the words, .. which I wrote in 1859, about the vast periods which had probably elapsed before the Cambrian system, are almost the same with those since used by Sir W. Logan. .. .. .. Nevertheless the difficulty of assigning any good reason for the absence beneath the Upper Cambrian formations of

the late E. Forbes , disputed this conclusion. We should not forget that only a small portion of the world is known with accuracy. M. Barrande not long ago added another and lower stage to the Silurian system, abounding with new and peculiar species. Remnants of several forms have been detected in the Longmynd beds, beneath Barrande's so-called primordial zone. ↑ The presence also of phosphatic nodules and bituminous matter in some of the lowest azoic rocks, probably indicates the former existence of life at these periods. But now within the last year the great discovery of the Eozoon in the Laurentian formation of Canada has been made; and after reading Dr. Carpenter's description of this remarkable fossil, it is impossible to feel any doubt regarding its organic nature. There are three great series of strata beneath the Silurian system in Canada, in the lowest of which the Eozoon was found; and Sir W. Logan states that their "united thickness may possibly far surpass that of all the succeeding rocks, from the base of the palæozoic series to the present time. We are thus carried back to a period so far remote, that the appearance of the so-called Primordial fauna (of Barrande) may by some be considered a comparatively modern event." The Eozoon belongs to the most lowly organised of all classes of animals, but for its class is highly organised; it existed in countless numbers, and, as Dr. Dawson has remarked, certainly preyed on other minute organic beings, which must have lived in great numbers. There is also reason to believe that at this enormously remote period plants of some kind existed. Thus the words above given, which I wrote in 1859, and which are almost the same with those used by Sir W. Logan, have come true. Notwithstanding these several facts, the difficulty of assigning any good cause for the absence beneath the Silurian formations of