THE MESOZOIC AGES. 201) 



period. Who that saw them trodden under foot by 

 the reptile aristocracy of the Mesozoic could have 

 divined their destiny ? But, notwithstanding the 

 struggle for existence, the weakest does not always 

 "go to the wall." . The weak things of this world 

 are often chosen to confound those that are mighty; 

 and the little quadrupeds of the Mesozoic are an 

 allegory. They may typify the true, the good, and 

 the hopeful, mildly and humbly asserting themselves 

 in the world that now is, in the presence of the 

 dragon monsters of pride and violence, which in the 

 days to come they will overthrow. Physically the 

 Mesozoic has passed away, but still exists morally in 

 an age of evil reptiles, whose end is as certain as 

 that of the great Dinosaurs of the old world. 



The Mesozoic mammals are among the most inter- 

 esting fossils known to us. In a recent memoir by 

 Professor Owen, thirty-three species are indicated all, 

 or nearly all, Marsupial all small all closely allied 

 to modern Australian animals ; some herbivorous, 

 some probably carnivorous. Owen informs us that 

 these animals are not merely marsupials, but mar- 

 supials of low grade, a point in which, however, 

 Huxley differs somewhat in opinion. They are at 

 least not lower than some that still exist, and not so 

 low as those lowest of mammals in Modern Australia, 

 the duck-billed platypus and the echidna. Owen 

 further supposes that they were possibly the first 

 mammals, and not only the predecessors but the pro- 

 genitors of the modern marsupials. If so, we have 



p 



