58 



The geological record is an open book, the fos- 

 siliferous strata are its open pages, the fossil 

 remains found in those pages are the charac 

 ters or letters by which paleontologists seek to 

 reconstruct the past history of plant and ani 

 mal life on this globe. But this history is not 

 only incomplete ; it is merely fragmentary. 

 Sir Charles Lyell always insisted on its imper 

 fection. Even Darwin himself bewails it. He 

 tells us, "The noble science of geology loses 

 much from the extreme imperfection of the re 

 cord." And again, " For my part, I look at 

 the geological record as a history of the world 

 imperfectly kept and written in a changing dia 

 lect. Of this history we possess the last vol 

 ume alone, relating only to two or three coun 

 tries. Of this volume, only here and there a 

 short chapter has been preserved, and of each 

 page, only here and there a line." Even Her 

 bert Spencer candidly admitted that "had we 

 an exhaustive examination of all exposed strata 

 covered by the sea, it would disclose types im 

 mensely outnumbering those at present 

 known." Hence even though no identical an 

 cestors of the now existing species of ants are 



