FOSSILS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 



71 



and Club-Mosses. Vertebrates, too, are here,— KsAes resembling the 

 Shark and Sturgeon. 



130. In the Devonian Desmids abound ; Perns and Club-Mosses In- 

 crease. Gymnosperms appear,— trees resembling the Pines. Fishes 

 so abound that this is called the Age 

 of Fishes. Insects appear. At the 

 close of the Devonian period New 

 York State arose above the seas. 



131. The Ghrboniferous, period ex- 

 hibits the most magnificent vegetation 

 the earth has ever known During 

 this time Nature produced and stored 

 up her supply of coal for man, "al- 

 though he was not to appear for mil- 

 lions of years. More than half the 

 plants that make our coal-measures 

 ai-e fossil ferns. The Tree -Ferns, 

 Horsetails, and Club - Mosses were 

 giants. One of the Club-Mosses, the 

 Lepidodendron (Fig. 84), was more 



Fig. 84.— Fragment of fossil iepi- 

 dodenfh-on; leaf-scara spirally ar- 

 ranged. 



than 60 feet high and 4 feet in 

 diameter. The Sigillaria (Fig. 

 85), allied to the Club-Moss, 

 prophesied the Cycas. 



Ancient Time, through all 

 its periods, shows slow growth, 

 great quiet, and mild, uniform 

 temperature. At its close tre- 

 mendous geologic convulsions 

 took place, and the extermina- 

 tion of life was complete. The 

 Appalachian Mountain chain 

 rose above the seas from New 

 York to Alabama; the Ural 

 chain in Europe. 



132. Middle Time has three periods : 



1. Triassic (L. trias, three), rooks sometimes in three layers. 



2. Jurassic, from the Jura Alps. 



3. Cretaceous (L. creta, chalk), from the chalk-beds of Europe. 



133. In the Triassic and Jurassic periods Club-Mosses and Perns di- 

 minish to their present size and number. The Cycads reach their 

 greatest size, and exceed all other plants in number. Pines increase. 

 ENnoaENS appear, — Lilies, Grasses, Pond-weeds, and Screw-Pines. 

 Reptiles abound ; flying dragons, more hideous than the fabled one 

 slain by St. George. Insects come in. Birds appear, but with jointed, 

 long tails, like the tail of a lizard (though richly feathered), and 

 claws on their wings, like those on the Bat's. Mammals, bearing 



Fig. 85. — Boots and part of stem of 

 Sigillaria: stem fluted, and marked with seal- 

 like scales. 



