CHAPTER V 

 ORDER: CHEI^OPTE^. THE BATS 



IN the Silurian period of the Primary Epoch, before ever a 

 vertebrate probably had evolved from a mollusc or an ascidian, 

 the first real conquest by animals of the land and of the air 

 commenced when from some form of many-legged worm or 

 centipede the insect developed into the first lord of Creation, 

 in that he took possession of the dry land and of the air. No 

 doubt prior to his evolution crustaceans had turned into scorpions, 

 and worms (using the word in its widest sense for primitive 

 invertebrates) into centipedes. But though these might have 

 crawled out of the water (in which element animal life originated) 

 on to the mud, or even the sand and the rock ; nothing that we 

 know of, before the insect, commenced to fly. Then began the 

 Scourge of Creation, the incarnation of evil, and at the same time 

 the provocation to higher development. The abundance of 

 insects on land and in the air became so great that when the early 

 vertebrates had developed into fish and were without rivals in the 

 watery covering of the earth's surface, insects proved the bait that 

 drew the fish to land and turned it into an amphibian. The 

 amphibian grew into a reptile, still mainly pursuing insects (some 

 of which at that day and subsequently were as big as fowls). 

 Some of these large crocodile-like amphibians no doubt returned to 

 the water to eat the fish, their lowlier brethren ; and the earliest 

 reptiles ate amphibians and fish as well as insects. But still the 

 growth and predominance of insects incited to fresh develop- 

 ments, and an ancient group of reptiles took to the air to pursue 

 their prey and became huge flying dragons. Other reptiles 



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