LWERTEBKATA 17 



the life-phenomena of distant ages of the earth, and proving 

 that the dawn of the organic nature co-existent with us reaches 

 further back in the history of the earth than had hitherto 

 been suspected." "The microscopic organisms are very in- 

 ferior in individual energy to lions and elephants, but in their 

 united influences they are far more important than all these 

 animals." If it be ever permitted to man to penetrate the 

 mystery which enshrouds the origin of organic force in the 

 wide-spread mud-beds of fresh and salt waters, it will be, 

 most probably, by experiment and observation on the atoms 

 which manifest the simplest conditions of life. 



ANIMALIA. 



INVERTEBRATA. 



Remains of invertebrate animals occur in strata of every 

 age, from the partially metamorphic and crystalline rocks of 

 the Cambrian system to the deposits formed by the floods of 

 last winter and the tides of yesterday. They are found in 

 every country, from the highest latitude attained by Arctic 

 voyagers to the extremities of the southern continents, and at 

 the greatest elevation hitherto climbed in the Andes or Hima- 

 laya. If some classes — e.g., Tunicata, Acal&phce — seem not to 

 be represented in stratified deposits, they are such as, either 

 from the soluble or perishable tissues composing the entire 

 frame, could not be expected to be fossilized under any con- 

 ceivable circumstances ; or from the same cause, are only not 

 so recognisable at one of their metagenetic phases. Evidence 

 of compound Hydrozoa — i. e., of the polypes which Ellis called 

 "Corallines" — and especially of the genus Ccurvpanularia, 

 would show that the acalephal type and grade of organization 

 had been manifested at the period of the formation of the 

 strata containing such fossil Polypi. With the above seeming 



c 



