4 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



imprint of each little fin-ray and every thread- 

 like bone is as clearly defined as it would have 

 been in a freshly prepared skeleton. So fine, 

 indeed, may have been the mud, and so quiet 

 for the time being the waters of the ancient 

 sea or lake, that not only have prints of bones 

 and leaves been found, but those of feathers 

 and of the skin of some reptiles, and even of 

 such soft and delicate objects as jelly fishes. 

 But for these we should have little positive 

 knowledge of the outward appearance of the 

 creatures of the past, and to them we are oc- 

 casionally indebted for the solution of some 

 moot point in their anatomy. 



The reader may possibly wonder why it is 

 that fossils are not more abundant ; why, of the 

 vast majority of animals that have dwelt upon 

 the earth since it became fit for the habitation 

 of living beings, not a trace remains. This, 

 too, when some objects — the tusks of the JNIam- 

 moth, for example — have been sufficiently well 

 preserved to form staple articles of commerce 

 at the present time, so that the carved handle 

 of my lady's parasol may have formed part of 

 some animal that flourished at the very dawn 



