The Sho shone Island. 97 



the line of the Rocky mountains, and the still 

 further one in the elevation of the chalk beds 

 of Europe, are but three links in the one chain 

 of force. It is this European link that gives 

 its name to the epoch, the Cretaceous (mean- 

 ing chalk), and the close of this period, a time 

 of great change, a revolution in the geologi- 

 cal history, marks the passing away of the 

 older forms of life and the introduction of the 

 newer forms of both plants and animals. To 

 accomplish this result the great types of life 

 at this time went through rapid changes. 



The dominant forms of vertebrate life of 

 the Cretaceous period of land and sea, were 

 reptilian, the dominant forms of the new pe- 

 riod were mammalian. 



A like radical change occurred at this time 

 among the plants, as the types that mark the 

 forests of to-day were not introduced till after 

 the close of the Cretaceous. In the light of 

 these facts there is a striking fitness in the 

 name Geologists have given the period that 

 follows the Cretaceous. They call it the 

 Eocene the dawn of the recent. 



