e 



V 



THE 



CilNADIAN RECOED 



OF SCIENCE. 



VOL. Vll. 



OCrOBKK, KS9H. 



Xo. 4. 



Note on Cuyptozoon and other Ancient Fossils. 



liy Sir William Dawson, F.H.S., F.G.S., &c. 



For iiijiny years my attention has lieen direeted, in 

 connection witli the discnssions re»>ar(lin«i; Kozoon, to tlie 

 discoveries made from time to time of (ir<,'anic remains 

 older than the Lower Cand»rian,and to thestndvof fossils 

 oecnrring in the Camhriiin, and which mi<rht he supjxtsed 

 likely to he snrvivals from the l*re-cand»rian periods. It 

 is now well known that in the Lower Candaian seas there 

 already existed representatives of all the classes of Marine 

 Invertehrates, and these represented ]»rohal»ly l)y several 

 hundreds of species of many <^enera, since tlie puldished 

 lists of American forms alone contain more than 160 

 species.' In the bed. immediately l)elow the Camhrian, 

 liowever, thono-h several forms of life have been recoo-uised 

 hy IJillings, Matthew, Walcott and others, they are com- 

 paratively rare in numhers and s])arsely (Hstrihuted 

 lhrouo;li great thicknesses of un])ro(hictive Iteds; and this 

 in connection with the frecpiently disturbed and altered 

 condition of the beds themselves, renders any attempt to 



1 Wii' '*: Meinoii on Fauna of Lower CamlMiaii, ISKO. Ihiblicatioii.s of U.S. 

 tii'okigical. vev. 



15 



,"y 



I 



