Animals JSefore Man 



at various epochs of the world's history, al- 

 though these pictures are, of necessity, more or 

 less incomplete and lacking in details. 



The story of the past is read as a Chinese 

 book seems to be, from the end backward, and 

 it is necessary to study not only the structure 

 of animals now living, but their appearance 

 and habits, in order to understand the mean- 

 ings of the fragments of bone from which we 

 must derive our knowledge of the animals that 

 have long ceased to be. Even with a good 

 knowledge of modern animals it is often a diffi- 

 cult matter to tell the relationships, habits, and 

 appearance of many extinct forms, as they were 

 so different from any now living that we have 

 no term of comparison. Still, careful research 

 has done much within the last twenty-five years 

 to increase our knowledge, not merely by dis- 

 covering new animals, but by the finding of 

 more complete specimens of those already 

 known to us by fragments. Fortunately, too, 

 for the student, while the majority of living 

 animals differ more or less from those of the 

 past, there are a few of the old-fashioned types 



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