IV THE GENEALOGY OF ANIMALS 119 



which lived on the land of the Carboniferous epoch, 

 as well as on that of the Trias, we have evidence 

 that one form of terrestrial life persisted, through- 

 out all these ages, with no important modification ? 

 For my part, having regard to the small amount 

 of modification (except in the way of extinction) 

 which the Crocodilian, Lacertilian, and Chelonian 

 Reptilia have undergone, from the older Mesozoic 

 times to the present day, I cannot but put the 

 existence of the common stock from which they 

 sprang far back in the Palaeozoic epoch ; and I 

 should apply a similar argumentation to all other 

 groups of animals. 



[The remainder of this essay contains a discussion of questions 

 of taxonomy and phylogeny, which is now antiquated. I have 

 reprinted the considerations about the reconciliation of Teleology 

 with Morphology, about " Dysteleology," and about the struggle 

 for existence within the organism, because it has happened to 

 me to be charged with overlooking them. 



In discussing Teleology, I ought to have pointed out, as I 

 have done elsewhere ( Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, vol. ii. 

 p. 202), that Paley " proleptically accepted the modern doctrine 

 of Evolution," (Natural Theology, chap, xxiii.). 1893.] 



