‘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 Mam- 
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 
