THE AMPHIBIANS OF THE GREAT COAL SWAMPS 



/)•// 11 ■. 1). Matlhnr 



Tlu" kiiul of iininials that iiiliahitrd the ancient forest -swamps where the t;i-ea( coal for- 

 mations of the world wt'rc laid clown is shown by the skeleton of the priinit i\ c amphibian 

 Erynpf:, now on exhibition in the Hall of Fossil Uoptilos. 



THE Coal l''ra has iikh'c ])factical iiii|)()rtaiicc to cixilizcd man than 

 any othor period of the past. Coal is the most imj)ortant miiu-ral 

 pfodtict of tluMvorld; To a Ncry considcfabU' extent it may he said 

 to hi' the mati'i'ial l)asis of oiir i)resent-day ei\ ilization. If for no other 

 reason than this, the Carhoniferoiis Period, when most of the world's coal 

 b eds were heing formed, ought to be of especial interest to everyone. But 



Eryops from the Lower Permian of Texas. An ancient amphibian which lived about 

 the close of the Coal Era, many million years ago. It is twice as old as the Bnmiosaurus. 

 five times as old as the Eohippus, a hiuiflred times as old as the mammoth or mastodon or 

 the earliest known remains of man 



to all who are likewise interested in the past history of the earth, in the 

 extinct races of animals and plants which ha\e formerly inhabited it, in 

 the evolution of those which now exist, the Coal Era has a broader 

 interest. For the antifpie world of this remote period, many millions of 

 years ago, was widely difl'erent in its appearance, in the outlines of its con- 

 tinents, in the character of its plants and animals, from the present day. 

 There were no broad-leaved trees nor flowering plants, no birds nor mam- 

 mals nor any of the higher kinds of insects. The swamp vegetation was 

 chiefly ferns and fern-like plants and giant relatives of the modern 

 equisetums and club mosses, while coniferous trees grew in the uplands. 

 The insects were all of the lower orders, dragon flies, cockroaches, milli- 

 pedes, and others; no bees, no ants, no butterflies nor beetles. 



The land vertebrates were, at this ancient period, in the early stages of 

 their adaptation tf) terrestrial life. Like the modern efts and salamanders 



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