IV 
RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS 
“4 time there was when the universe was darkness and 
water, wherein certain animals of frightful and compound 
mien were generated. There were serpents, and other creatures 
nith 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 ruling 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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