260 



PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



history of the world, and how nearly the past stands 

 in relation to the present. 



But though there are thus very near and impor- 

 tant resemblances, neither can it be questioned that 

 there are wide and startling differences. Where 

 now, or during more modern geological periods, we 

 should find remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, and 

 hippopotamuses, we have multitudes of the bones 

 of gigantic reptiles, assuming their form, occupying 

 their place, and substituted for them in the islands 

 and continents of the ancient world. The whale 

 tribe, an exceedingly important and widely extended 

 group of animals, now inhabiting the seas from the 

 poles to the equator, represented by many species of 

 various proportions and dimensions, and manifestly 

 occupying a very important place amongst the in- 

 habitants of the deep, is, in like manner, totally ab- 

 sent. It must be remembered, too, that in this case 

 the argument arising from the absence of the group 

 is far stronger than in the case of land animals, 

 for the remains of these creatures, both of teeth and 

 bones, were just as likely to be preserved as those of 

 other marine animals, and in more modern deposits 

 they have been so preserved. But there is also a good 

 reason for their absence. Their task was performed 

 by others ;* they were not needed, because their place 

 was supplied by the gigantic marine reptiles, which 

 have abounded during the whole period, and which 



* This is the case at least with the large-toothed carnivorous Cetacea. 

 It is worth while to observe that we do not at present know of any 

 fossil remains in secondary rocks of large herbivorous or animalcule- 

 feeding animals, whether reptilian or otherwise, corresponding to the 

 dugong, &c., and the gigantic true whales (Balance}. 



