IV 



RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS 



"A time there was ivhen the universe was darkness and 

 water, wherein certain animals of Jrightful and compound 

 mien ivere generated. There were serpents, and other creatiii-es 

 with the mixed shapes of one another. . . ." — The Archaic 

 Genesis. 



History shows us how in the past nation after 

 nation has arisen, increased in size and strength, 

 extended its bounds and dominion until it be- 

 came the ruhng power of the world, and then 

 passed out of existence, often so completely 

 that nothing has remained save a few mounds 

 of dirt marking the graves of former cities. 

 And so has it been with the kingdoms of 

 nature. Just as Greece, Carthage, and Rome 

 were successively the rulers of the sea in the 

 days that we call old, so, long before the advent 

 of man, the seas were ruled by successive races 

 of creatures whose bones now lie scattered 

 over the beds of the ancient seas, even as the 



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