CHAPTER XVI 



EXTINCT WHALES AND WOMBATS 



" The earth from her deep foundations unites with the celestial orbs that roll 

 through boundless space, to declare the glory and show forth the praise of their 

 common Author and Preserver; and the voice of Natural Religion accords 

 harmoniously with the testimonies of Revelation, in ascribing the origin of the 

 Universe to the will of One eternal and dominant Intelligence, the Almighty 

 Lord and supreme First Cause of all things that subsist, ' the same yesterday, 

 to-day, and for ever.' " DEAN BUCKLAND. 



IT would not be safe to venture any positive statement or opinion 

 as to when the great cetacean order of mammals, which includes 

 such creatures as whales, dolphins, and porpoises, first appeared 

 on the earth. But as far as the geological record is known at 

 present, it would seem as if they were ushered in at the com- 

 mencement of the Tertiary era, at the same time with many other 

 new forms of life. The original ancestor of all these marine 

 mammals may, for all we know, have been evolved some time 

 before then ; say in the Cretaceous period, or perhaps during that 

 great and partly unknown interval between the Secondary and 

 Tertiary eras. What we do know for certain is, that fossil 

 evidence of their existence first comes to light in the Eocene strata 

 of North America. 



The oldest known whale is the curious Zeuglodon, from the 

 marine Eocene strata of Alabama. At Claiborne, according to 

 Sir Charles Lyell, there occur numerous species of shells, besides 

 many sea-urchins (echinoderms) and abundance of sharks' teeth. 

 But the most remarkable remains found there are those of the 



