ANCIENT SALAMANDERS 87 



an important part in primaeval times, branching out here and 

 there into strange and varied forms, as if they could not help 

 themselves. In order to do this we must go a long way back 

 into the world's history ; and even then we shall still be some 

 way off the roots of the family tree ; or, in other words, we shall 

 be in the dark about the first forms of amphibian life which 

 appeared on the earth's surface. 



To find the oldest known amphibian we must go back as far 

 as those " dark ages " when a large portion of the surface of what 

 is now Europe was overgrown with vast areas of dismal coal- 

 forests, something like the mangrove swamps of which we read 

 in books of African travel ; they must have been dark compared 

 to an English meadow on a summer day, and therefore the 

 expression " dark ages " is all the more appropriate. Our know- 

 ledge of the earliest air-breathing creatures is no doubt small, 

 but of late years it has been considerably extended, thanks to the 

 labours of several English, American, and Continental workers, 

 such as Owen, Huxley, Miall, Seeley, Gaudry, Fritsch, Cope, and 

 others, who have all carefully studied and described the fossil 

 remains submitted to them, to say nothing of the numerous 

 eager collectors who have brought away from the bowels of the 

 earth numerous specimens of great value. Their services, 

 although of a more humble order, are quite indispensable; and 

 it should be borne in mind that it is in the power of all of us, 

 however ignorant we may be of comparative anatomy, and there- 

 fore unable to write learned papers for the Geological Society, 

 to render valuable service to the cause of Science simply by using 

 our eyes and not neglecting opportunities of collecting specimens 

 wherever we may go. 



But before proceeding it will be necessary to introduce a new 

 name for our old amphibians. It is rather a long one, we 



