48 RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



methods of arrangement and nomenclature ; and in 

 a very recent address, the Director-General of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain expresses his 

 inability to satisfy himself of the equivalency of 

 the different pre-Cambrian groups on the opposite 

 sides of the Atlantic, and in consequence prefers 

 to retain for those of Britain merely local names. 



On the other hand, those who hold the modern 

 theories of gradual evolution repudiate the idea 

 that the Lower Cambrian fauna can be primitive, and 

 demand a vast series of changes in previous time 

 to prepare the way for it. In any case this com- 

 paratively unexplored portion of geological time 

 holds out the inducement of mystery and the possi- 

 bility of great discoveries to the hardy adventurers 

 who may enter into it. It must now be our effort to 

 explore this dim and mysterious dawn of life, and 

 to ascertain what forms, if any, are visible amid 

 its fogs and mists. 



The Kewenian or Etcheminian. 



In certain basal Cambrian or infra - Cambrian 

 beds, found by Matthew in Southern New Bruns- 

 wick, by Walcott in Colorado, and by Scandinavian 

 and English geologists in their respective countries, 



