126 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



the full significance of the observations of Darwin, 

 Wagner and their compeers. It is then found that 

 the distribution of species in space is intimately con- 

 nected with their succession in time ; that the ani- 

 mals which occur in a determinate locality at pres- 

 ent, closely resemble extinct animals which inhabited 

 the same locality in ages long past, and hence the 

 inference the naturalist draws, that existing types in 

 a given area are genetically related to antecedent 

 types of the same area. Thus, the marsupials which 

 now inhabit Australia are allied to their fossil prede- 

 cessors in the same part of the world. Similarly, the 

 sloths, ant-eaters and armadillos now found in South 

 America, are intimately related to numerous fossil 

 forms which have been brought to light in this part 

 of the Western continent. 



Indeed, it is just such facts as these which im- 

 pelled Darwin and others to conclude, that existing 

 species must have originated by derivation from an- 

 tecedent species, and that the divers species of any 

 given area are but modified descendants of species 

 long extinct. 



" I was so much impressed with these facts," 

 declares Darwin, "that I strongly insisted, in 1839 

 and 1845, on this 'law of succession of types,' on 

 this wonderful relationship in the same continent, 

 between the dead and the living ! Prof. Owen sub- 

 sequently extended the same generalization to the 

 mammals of the Old World. We have the same 

 law exhibited in his restoration of the extinct and 

 gigantic birds of New Zealand. We see it also in 

 the birds of the caves of Brazil. Mr. Woodward 



