,0' 



-■ 



PALEONTOLOGY 



Paleontology* is the science which treats of the evidences 

 in the earth's strata of organic beings, consisting of fossil 

 remains, casts and impressions, of plants and animals, belong- 

 ing, for the most part, to species that are extinct. 



The endeavour to interpret such evidences has led to 

 comparisons of the forms and structures of existing plants 

 and animals, which have greatly advanced the science of 

 comparative anatomy, especially as applied to the hard and 

 enduring parts of the animal frame, such as corals, shells, 

 spines, crusts, scales, scutes, bones, and teeth. 



In applying the results of these comparisons to the restora- 

 tion of extinct species, physiology has benefited by the study 

 of the relations of structure to function requisite to obtain 

 an idea of the food and habits of such species. It has thus 

 been enriched by the well-defined law of "correlation of 

 structures." 



The knowledge of the type or plan of arrangement of 

 certain systems of organs, e. g., the skeletons of the Yerte- 

 brata and the teeth of the Mammalia, has been confirmed 

 by the more frequent and closer adherence to such type 

 discovered in extinct animals, and thus the highest aim of 

 Zootomy has been greatly promoted by palaeontology. 



Zoology has gained an immense accession of subjects 

 through the determination of the nature and affinities of 



* From palaios, ancient ; onta, beings ; tagop, a discourse, 

 B 



