*52 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



foreign parts become better known, the gaps in the pakeonto- 

 logical record are shown to be less insurmountable than was at 

 first supposed. On the other hand, it may be that an enriched 

 knowledge of extinct organic remains and their precise distri- 

 bution in the various layers of the stratigraphical succession 

 throughout the globe, will enable biologists to draw more 

 definite conclusions regarding the first derivation, and the 

 history of the descent and development of the manifold forms 

 of organic life that have peopled the earth. 



