58 RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



Hise, and some other United States authorities, 

 would separate them even from the Palaeozoic, and 

 unite them with the underlying Huronian, as re- 

 presenting a " Proterozoic " or " Algonkian " Period. 

 This is merely a matter of classification, necessarily 

 more or less arbitrary ; but I believe the facts to 

 be stated subsequently show that it will be best 

 to unite the Etcheminian and its equivalents with 

 the Palaeozoic, and to place the groups lower than 

 this in one great division, equivalent to Palaeozoic, 

 and for which many years ago I proposed the 

 name " Eozoic," or that of the Dawn of Life. 



Having thus hastily glanced at the slender fauna 

 of the rocks immediately below the Cambrian, we 

 may now proceed to inquire a little more in detail 

 into its true value and import as leading toward the 

 beginning of life. I have already referred to the 

 apparently sudden drop in the number of groups and 

 of species below the base of the Cambrian, and have 

 hinted that this may be an effect of temporary local 

 conditions of deposit or of defective information. 

 Another fact that strikes us is the diverse and mis- 

 cellaneous character of the fossils that remain to us ; 

 and this would suggest that we are either dealing 

 with a mere handful picked at random, as it were. 



