8 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



consolidated remains of various species of Cyprielet, 

 while they also constitute a large proportion of the 

 mass of many beds of Sussex marble. 



Contemporary with the crustaceans and molluscs now 

 described was the Megalichthys, a genus of Sauroid 

 fishes, established by the researches of Agassiz. Their 

 teeth equalled in size the teeth of the largest living 

 crocodiles : in external form nearly conical, they were 

 perforated by a conical cavity, like that within the 

 teeth of many lizards; the base was fluted, like the 

 base of the teeth of the Ichthyosaurus. Their immense 

 size is a proof of the magnitude which fishes of this 

 family attained at a period so early as that of the 

 Carboniferous formation. The object of so formidable 

 an apparatus seems to have been, not for mastication, 

 but to enable these voracious fresh-water rovers to 

 hold fast and swallow the slippery bodies of the fishes 

 on which they preyed. 



Seventeen genera of Sauroid fishes have been distin- 

 guished by Agassiz, whose only living representatives 

 are the genus Lepidosleus, or Bony pike, and the genus 

 Polypterus ; the former inhabiting the great rivers of 

 North America, and the latter the Nile of Egypt, and 

 the Senegal of West Africa. 



Another genus of fishes belonging to the Carboni- 

 ferous formations was the Amblypterus. From the 

 character of their teeth it is evident that they fed upon 

 decayed sea-weed, and on such soft animal substances 

 as they found at the bottom of the water. The teeth 

 are small and numerous, and set close together like a 

 brush. The form of the body shows that the Amblyp- 

 terus was incapable of rapid progression. The vertebral 

 column is prolonged into the upper lobe of the tail, 

 which is much longer than the lower lobe, and thus 

 was ingeniously adapted to sustain the body in an in- 

 clined position, with the head and mouth nearest to 

 the bottom. 



Among existing cartilaginous fishes we find the same 

 prolongation of the vertebral column into the caudal fin 

 occurring as a distinctive characteristic of the sturgeon 

 and the shark. The former is one of the scavengers 

 of nature ; clearing the ocean and river waters of impu- 

 rities with its soft, leather-like mouth, which was capable 

 both of protusion and contraction, and feeding wholly 

 on soft animal substances and putrid vegetable matter. 

 Hence it has constant occasion to keep its body in the 

 same inclined position as the fossil AmUyptent-s. 



The marshy river banks and stagnant forest pools of 

 the Carboniferous period were inhabited by certain 

 forms of animal life which foreshadowed the frog and 

 lizard of our own times. Of these some were wholly 

 aquatic in their habits, some were arboreal, and others 

 amphibious. To the first belonged the Parabatrachus, 

 or frog-like reptile ; to the second class, the Denclrer- 

 peton, or tree-lizard; to the third, the Archceogosaurus, 

 or ancient land-lizard. Professor Owen discovers in 

 these early reptiles, with their vertebral column, gill- 

 arches, and large throat-plates, a " linking and blending 

 together" of the piscine and sauroid groups, in antici- 

 pation, as it were, of those huge labyrinthodont reptiles 

 of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 

 Thus we find each form distinct and perfect in itself, 

 and admirably adapted for its specia] functions, but 



each presenting itself as the type of some higher and 

 more advanced form, to make its appearance when the 

 earth was duly fitted for its reception. 



In the accompanying illustration (Plate 1) our artist 

 has endeavoured to realize a landscape of the Carbon- 

 iferous period ; some such picture as would have been 

 presented to the eye of man, had man then lived. It 

 is thus that imagination, aided by scientific knowledge, 

 is enabled to re-create the past; it is thus that the 

 philosopher, like the poet, can " give to airy nothings a 

 local habitation and a name;" can fill up the imperfect 

 outline with glowing colours, and clothe a barren world 

 with life and vigour. Geology supplies us with the 

 foundation on which, as naturalists, we build up the 

 wondrous structure. We know that to certain condi- 

 tions of our globe belonged certain organisms, certain 

 forms of animal life; that those forms and those organ- 

 isms could only flourish while the earth preserved a 

 certain temperature, and exhibited a certain charac- 

 teristic vegetation. The view, then, which we set 

 before the mind's eye may be ideal, but it is not ficti- 

 tious; in its general features, if not in its particular 

 details, it will be unquestionably correct. 



During the Carboniferous period a tropical heat must 

 have prevailed over our world. There would be long 

 days of burning sunshine, followed by glorious cloudless 

 nights, "clad in the beauty of a thousand stars." There 

 would be heavy dews, descending in the darkness, like 

 pearly mists, to fertilize and refresh the thirsty soil. 

 There would be torrents of appalling rains, accompanied 

 by terrible electric discharges, forked lightnings, and 

 the sound of rolling thunder. The globe at this epoch 

 was probably one vast archipelago ; the waters every- 

 where dimpling round the shores of ferny islands ; or 

 if any larger tracts of land existed, we can fancy them 

 intersected by broad rivers, whose banks were hung 

 with luxuriant forests, and whose interior was occupied 

 with far-spreading marshes. Under the shade of tell 

 trees, and arborescent ferns taller than our tallest oaks, 

 throve an infinite variety of aquatic plants, equiseta, 

 and club-mosses ; and in every dell and hollow waved 

 the fronds of the most gorgeous and magnificent ferns. 

 Lilies gleamed among the dense rank grasses; rich, 

 rare heaths adorned the open clowns with their delicate 

 hues ; and many a pillar-like palm reared its crest of 

 fan-shaped leaves in the warm glow of a cloudless sun. 

 We are told of one strange plant, named the SpJieno- 

 phyllum, which resembled an immense asparagus, 

 twenty-five to thirty feet in height. Stigmaria and 

 sigillaria attained to proportionally gigantic dimen- 

 sions. All vegetation, terrestrial and marine, was on 

 a colossal scale; we have nothing now to compare 

 with it except the luxuriant and lofty growth of the j 

 virgin forests of the Brazils. 



The general character of this vegetation will be j 

 understood from the following tabular classification : 



Dr. Lindley. Brongniart. Natural Families. 



II. Cryptogamous amphio-^ ^ gea . weed 

 I. Thallogens. < gens, or cellular cryp- > fa^ 

 ( togains. ) 



i Clnb-mosses, equi- 



I seta, ferns, Ivco- 



II. Acrogens. 2. Cryptogamous acrogens. ^ iepidoden . 



( dra. 



