64 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
Dr. Grant, the writer believes, may be in possession of the works 
or of early publications on geological matters, for example: Dr. 
Ure’s “New System,” David Page’s ‘‘Elements of Geology,” and 
perhaps he may be unacquainted with what has been more recently 
learned regarding the ancient Fauna, etc., of the earth. I recollected 
I had copies of both authors stowed away on the mineral shelf, and 
on taking down the latter work, an American edition, published in 
1864, and on referring to the chapter on ‘‘ The Organic Remains of 
the Old Red Sandstone System,” at page 134, I find as follows: 
“The fossil fishes, or /chthyolites, of the old red sandstone present 
the first distinct trace of the existence of the highest division of the 
animal kingdom, namely, Vertebrata. It must be remarked, how- 
ever, that the earliest genera are not of the most perfect structure, 
but form, as it were, a link between the humbler crustacea and fully 
developed fishes. The Cephadasfis in general figure resembles the 
Asaphus of the Silurian rocks.” (It was not known, when Page’s 
work was published, that fishes existed also when the upper Silurians 
were deposited, characterized by similar inferiority as their successor). 
The unequally bilobate tail, Page states, is produced by a remarka- 
ble prolongation of the vertebrae, which bears a striking analogy to 
the prolongation of the same part in reptiles, thus connecting the 
cartilaginous fishes with the reptilia, not only by internal structure, 
but also by the evidences of external form. The Conodonts found 
by Pander in Cambrian and Lower Silurians, and by Hinde in Can- 
ada, may indicate a still lower class of fishes at an earlier time. Yet 
the Doctor would have us believe that the 7zs¢ that appeared were 
perfect of their kind—that there was no room for improvement. 
THE MAMMALS. 
Since the Doctor has referred to Dawson, Dana and Hitchcock 
as authorities, thereby leading his readers to infer that the distin- 
guished scientists’ views were similar to his own. Let us see if such 
is the case or not. The earliest known examples, JZarsupzal, as 
regards type were discovered in Triassic and Jurassic rocks of Europe 
and America. Now, if we turn to Sir W. Dawson’s ‘‘ Chain of Life,” 
what do we find in Chapter IX regarding AZarsupials? “They are 
for the most part confined to Australia, though a few occur in Amer- 
ica, and are decidedly zzferior in rank to the ordinary Mammats. 
