88 SIE WM. DAWSON ON PALAEOZOIC AIR-BRBATHINC4 ANIMALS. 



beds are perhaps not yet exhausted. I have elsewhere remarked that in the middle and 

 later Ei'ian the surface of the land seems to have been more varied than in the Coal-forma- 

 tion age. This would atibrd hope for a rich land fauna, more especially when taken in 

 connection with the known aliundance of plants and of insect life in some localities at least. 

 There is thus 2;ood reason to hope for unexpected discoveries in Brian deposits which cimtain 

 vegetable remains, anil those of shallow water and estuarine fishes. 



Such prizes will likely fall to the lot of local collectors, who can watch new exposures 

 and visit productive localities again and again. Had we more of such observers scattered 

 over the fossiliferous districts of Canada, we might hope for a more ra[)id progress in discovery. 

 Mv own time for ileld work is, I fear, mainly in the past. I must be content to work at the 

 material I have already collected, of which much remains to be studied, or to attend to 

 specimens brought to me by others. ISTothing, however, will give me greater pleasure than 

 to aid in an entirely unselfi.sh spirit any of our younger observers. It is one of the highest 

 privileges of the aged to aid those who are to continue the work of scientific exploration in 

 the future ; and it is with this view that I have added the above suggestions to the present 

 paper. 



