PROOFS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AUTHORITIES, ETC. vii 



the earlier groups of fossils have been widely spread, have failed in 

 detecting anywhere a zone of higher antiquity than the Upper 



Ludlow, in which the remains of fishes are embedded These 



few traces of fishes being detectable only at the close of the first long 

 era of primeval life, it follows that the Silurian deposits as a whole 

 are prominently separated from all those which succeeded, by the 

 invertebrate character of their very numerous fossil animals, 

 among which the cephalopods that so abound, probably performed 

 the duties of the fishes, and were the scavengers of the pristine 

 seas." Sir JR. Murchison, Dec. 1852. See Proceedings of Geol. 

 Soc. ix. 17. 



See afterwards the refutation of a whole chapter-full of false 

 rumours of vertebrate life in the Lower Silurians and lower portion 

 of the Upper Silurians. 



6. THE GENERA OF THE LOWER SILURIAN FORMATION 

 ARE HUMBLE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE LINES OF 

 GRADATION. 



" As a general result of the inquiries hitherto made, it may be 

 stated that the palaeozoic animals belong, for the most part, to the 

 lower division of the different classes." Agassiz : Principles of 

 Zoology, 1848. 



Corallines. " Among the earlier forms are those of the genera 

 Aulopora and Catenipora, all belonging to the group of lowest 

 organization among coralline bodies." Ansted : Picturesque 

 Sketches of Creation, 1847. 



Echinodermata. The Cystidea, " the primitive form of animals 

 of this class." De Verneuil. " Form the extreme verge of an en- 

 tire group of Radiaria, the Cario-crinus indicating the way in which 

 the passage from Cystidea to Crinoidea may have taken place." Von 

 Such : quoted in Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., Nov. 1848. " The figure 

 (Caryocystites granatum) exhibits the structure of the stony case 

 in one species ; and the annexed figure (Caryocrinus ornatus] shows 

 the step by which this ancient family, apparently the first intro- 

 duced, passed on to the higher organization of the modern star-fish." 

 Ansted : Pic. Sketches Creation, p. 34. 



Acephalous Mollusks. " The bivalves or Acephala are numerous 

 [in the palaeozoic rocks], but for the most part belong to the Bra- 

 chiopoda, that is to say, to the lowest division of the class." 

 Agassiz : Princ. Zoology, p. 192. 



" The Brachiopoda exhibit , an internal organization extremely 

 simple, compared with that of the other bivalves." Ansted. 



Crustacea. " The Articulata of the Palaeozoic age are mostly 

 Trilobites, animals which evidently belong to the lower order of the 



