Animals Before Man 



Certain green and white masses of limestone 

 and serjDentine wliicli occur in very ancient 

 rocks in Canada, Germany, and Finland were 

 regarded by a few paleontologists as represent- 

 ing great colonies of foraminifers, and termed 

 Eozoon, or early life. But after much discus- 

 sion and long and careful 

 study, the balance of opinion 

 is decidedly against the ani- 

 mal nature of Eozoon, and in 

 favor of its being a mineral ; 

 so the dawn of life is still 

 to be sought for, and the oc- 

 currence of living things at 

 an early date rests upon indi- 

 rect evidence. 



Apparent indications of 

 animal life are found in the pre-Cambrian rocks 

 of England in the shape of long, narrow, dark 

 streaks running through the stone. These are 

 believed to be the burrows of worms that were 

 filled with soft mud, and subsequently squeezed 

 out into long ribbons of extreme thinness by 

 the enormous pressure of the rocks that in 



60 



Eozoon canadensis. A 

 polished fragment 

 showing the struc- 

 ture. Natural size. 

 (After Dawson.) 



