176 BVOLU TION A ND D OGMA . 



between forms which seemed before so widely sepa- 

 rated. How much closer will these links be drawn 

 when paleontology shall have escaped from its 

 cradle." ' 



Imperfection of the Geological Record. 



What precedes supplies us with an answer re- 

 garding two great difficulties on which anti-evolu- 

 tionists have always laid special stress. These 

 difficulties, briefly stated, are the sudden apparition 

 of whole groups of allied species in certain forma- 

 tions, even in the lowest fossiliferous strata, with- 

 out any previous transitional forms leading up to 

 such groups, and the occurrence in geological time 

 of numerous animal forms of a much higher 

 grade than an evolutionist should antecedently ex- 

 pect. 



From what has already been said not only respect- 

 ing the absence of countless species, but also of the de- 

 nudation of immense areas which must at one time 

 have been rich in important fossiliferous deposits, it is 

 manifest that the objection is at best but a neutral 

 one, and as such may be dismissed as in nowise se- 

 riously affecting the contention of evolutionists. Re- 

 garding the appearance in the earlier strata of ani- 

 mals which are zoologically of a higher grade than 

 the principles of Evolution would lead one to look 

 for, it may be said in reply that the objection urged 

 proves, at most, that the imperfection of the geolog- 

 ical record is even more extensive than it has usually 

 been thought to be, and, likewise, that the advent of 



1 " Les Animaux Fossiles de Pikermi," p. 34. 



