394 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



the Old Red, belonging to forty-four genera, 

 comprised under seven families, between sev- 

 eral of which there is but little analogy as 

 to organization. It is therefore impossible to 

 look upon them as coming from one primitive 

 stock. The primitive diversity of these types 

 is quite as remarkable as that of those be- 

 longing to later epochs. It is nevertheless 

 true that, regarded as part of the general 

 plan of creation, this fauna presents itself as 

 an inferior type of the vertebrate series, con- 

 necting itself directly in the creative thought 

 with the realization of later forms, the last of 

 which (and this seems to me to have been the 

 general end of creation) was to place man at 

 the head of organized beings as the key-stone 

 and term of the whole series, the final point 

 in the premeditated intention of the primitive 

 plan which has been carried out progressively 

 in the course of time. I would even say that I 

 believe the creation of man has closed creation 

 on this earth, and I draw this conclusion from 

 the fact that the human genus is the first 

 cosmopolite type in Nature. One may even 

 affirm that man is clearly announced in the 

 phases of organic development of the animal 

 kingdom as the final term of this series. 

 Lastly: Is there any reason to believe that 



