128 FOSSILS THEIR NATURE AND ARRANGEMENT. 



marvellous that, numerous and varied as are the plants an 

 animals of the present day, they form but the merest fra< 

 tion of those that have successively adorned the earth 

 surface, each succeeding age being characterised by its ow 

 special forms, ascending and still ascending in variety an 

 complexity, yet all interwoven into one grand and ha: 

 monious Life-system ! 



