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 that 1872 | that, 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
....... 1872 | besides reptiles, 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
no less than at least thirty
different bird-like animals, different bird-like animals, 1872 |
kinds of birds, 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
some of gigantic size, existed during that period? ↑1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1872; present in 1861 1866 1869 | 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 |
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. |
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
....... 1872 | have 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
stated that, from the
large number large number 1869 1872 | number 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
of existing and extinct tertiary species; from the extraordinary abundance of the individuals of many species all over the world, from the Arctic regions to the equator, inhabiting various zones of depths from the upper tidal limits to 50 fathoms; from the perfect manner in which specimens are
preserved preserved 1859 1860 1861 1869 1872 | pre- served 1866 |
in the oldest tertiary beds; from the ease with which even a fragment of a valve can be recognised; from all these circumstances, I inferred
that, that, 1866 1869 1872 | that 1859 1860 1861 |
had sessile cirripedes existed during the secondary periods, they would certainly have been preserved and discovered; and as not one species had
then been then been 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 | been 1859 |
discovered in beds of this age, I concluded that this great group had been suddenly developed at the commencement of the tertiary series. This was a sore trouble to me, adding as I
then thought then thought 1872 | thought 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
one more instance of the abrupt appearance of a great group of species. But my work had hardly been published, when a skilful palæontologist, M. Bosquet, sent me a drawing of a perfect specimen of an unmistakeable sessile cirripede, which he had himself extracted from the chalk of Belgium. And, as if to make the case as striking as possible, this
....... 1872 | sessile 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
cirripede was a Chthamalus, a very common, large, and ubiquitous genus, of which not one
species species 1872 | specimen 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
has as yet been found even in any tertiary stratum. Still more recently, a Pyrgoma, a member of a distinct sub-family of sessile cirripedes, has been discovered by Mr. Woodward in the upper chalk; so that we now
|