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animal with nourishment quite independent of either arms or pinnule: 
Cystidex, being attached firmly to the sea bottom by their columns, are supposed 
to remain motionless during the digestive process ; accomplished while streams 
of water are received and ejected through the mouth as in the common starfish. 
Ciliary motion is likened to that of a cornfield when agitated by frequent gusts 
of wind. It is quite independent of the will of the animal and also of the life of. 
the rest of the body. Such 1s the accepted opinion in man’s organization. 
The digestive process is one of the most important in every organism, and 
the material required is supplied in accordance with the necessities of the: 
system. Under such circumstances, it does appear peculiar that the special. 
duty of supplying the system of even a cystidean should be assigned to parts over 
which, by analogy, there is little or no control whatever. “ Cystidez being a. 
race of small marine animals, which flourished vigorously during the Silurian 
period, and disappeared before the commencement of the Carboniferous era,” I 
shall only briefly refer to some of the chief characteristics of their 
time. With few exceptions indeed, the fossil remains of 
cystidee eonsist of mere fragments, notwithstanding the fact that, 
while the upper half of the Lower Silurian rocks of Canada, in which these 
organic remains flourished, were in process of formation, cystideae swarmed in 
the bottom of the ocean, and, according to Barrande, formed entire beds, from 
one ‘to two yards in thickness, in Bohemia. In 1852 only one specimen was 
known in the Lower Silurian rocks of Canada. At present there are at least 21 
distinct species in the collection of the Canadian Geological Survey. From all 
the facts known, the belief is that cystidez made their appearance amongst the 
first creations on the earth’s surface, obtained the greatest degree of growth in. 
the Lower Silurian formation, and died out at or about the dawn of the Devonian 
period. To the student of nature and nature’s laws, the period of cystidean 
life is one of more than ordinary interest. To interpret fully nature’s works 
we require to observe closely nature’s operations at the present time. We can 
better form an idea of the past by comparing it with the present. Time obscures 
the upheaving action of central power when gradually brought about. In the 
case of the sudden earthquake, or unexpected volcano, matters are quite different, 
and the rapid change of physical points of interest gives quite a lively impression 
of passing events. The geological aspect of the immediate Ottawa section is 
quite an interesting chapter in the history of the pre-adamite world. The 
flora and fauna of the present do not in any sense surpass in interest those of 
the past, of which we have evidence in the upturned strata daily brought to- 
view. In the Silurian period, and, in fact, long anterior, order, regularity and 
perfection as to form, in lower types, both in the animal and vegetable world, 
are well established facts. Life was then, as at present, governed by recognised 
laws, and the chemical and physiological principles involved were in many 
respects analogous to those we now enjoy. The vast chain of being is spoken of 
as a scale of “animal life,” in which species succeed species in a regular series, 
both as to development and organization, from life’s lowest forms to the very 
highest, where the genus homo is recognised as the chief order of creative 
power. The difficulties in the way of such a form of succession are not eanily 
overcome. It may answer to treat of creatures in a linear form; however, the 
complex structure of even a cystidean on such an hypothesis would doubtless. 
give considerable trouble in tracing its history. The great leading ideas which 
constitute the types of animal life (which I shall now briefly touch upon for the 
interest of some of the juniors in natural history) are four in number. The 
Radiata or star-like type of life, embodied in form, radiating from a centre, like 
the “starfish.” The Articulata, composed of articulations, movable on each 
other, as the Trilobite or true crustacean. The Mollusca, of which we have 
a good example in the order Brachiopoda and the genus lingula, In 
this class there is a distinct quality of corresponding parts on the side 
