CONCLUSIONS. 417 



became extinct before the creation of man. In the continent 

 of South America are found, in the drift of that region, the re- 

 mains of another gigantic animal, the Megatherium (fig. 390), 

 which resembles the armadillos of that country, but differs from 

 all other quadrupeds in the colossal dimensions of its skeleton. 



Fig. 390. The Megatherium. 



688. It is necessary, therefore, to distinguish two periods 

 in the history of the animals now living ; one in which the 

 marine animals were created, and a second, during which the 

 land and fresh-water animals made their appearance, and at 

 their head MAN.* 



CONCLUSIONS. 



689. From the above sketch it is evident that there is a 

 manifest progress in the succession of beings on the surface of 

 the earth. This progress consists in an increasing similarity 

 to the living fauna, and among the vertebrata, especially, in 

 their increasing resemblance to Man. 



690. But this connection is not the consequence of a direct 

 lineage between the faunas of different ages. There is nothing 

 like parental descent connecting them. The fishes of the 

 Palaeozoic age are in no respect the ancestors of the reptiles 

 of the Secondary age, nor does Man descend from the mam- 

 mals which preceded him in the Tertiary age. The link by 

 which they are connected is of a higher and immaterial nature ; 

 and their connection is to be sought in the view of the Creator 



* The former of these phases is indicated in the frontispiece, by a 

 circle, inserted between the upper stage of the Tertiary formation and 

 the Reign of Man properly so called. 



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