GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



289 



tion of an Eozoonal mass, natural size, in which the white is calcareous 

 matter supposed to have been secreted by the rhizopod, and the dark 

 corresponds to the supposed animal matter of the rhizopod itself ; and 

 Fig. 2G3 a small portion of the same, magnified so as to show the 

 structure of the cells. 



There has been, and is still, much discussion as to the organic or 

 mineral nature of these curious structures. If these irregular masses be 

 indeed of animal origin, it is 

 evident that they belong to the 

 lowest forms of compound pro- 

 tozoa — lower far than the sym- 

 metrically-formed foraminifera 

 of later times. It is precisely 

 in such almost amorphous 

 masses of protoplasmic matter 

 that, according to the evolution 

 hypothesis, the animal kingdom 

 might be expected to originate. 



Some very obscure tracings, 



Suggesting the pOSSiMe existence Fig. 263.— Diagram of a Portion of EozoSn cnt verti- 

 00 . , cally: A, B, C, three tiers of chambers communi- 



of marine ivorms. have been 



■*■"'! 'uV'jT 1 ^ f>- 



b - 



**• b 



eating with one another by slightly constricted 

 apertures; a, a, the true shell- wall, perforated by 

 numerous delicate tubes; b, b, the main calcare- 

 ous skeleton (" intermediate skeleton"); c, pas- 

 sage of communication i" stolon-passage") from 

 one tier of chambers to another; d. ramifying 

 tubes in the calcareous skeleton (after Carpenter). 



zvorms, 

 found both in Canada and in 

 Bohemia; but as yet we have 

 no reliable evidence of any ani- 

 mals higher than the protozoa. 



It is impossible to say that other animals of low form did not exist • 

 yet the absence of any reliable trace in rocks not more metamorphic 

 than some of the next era, which are crowded with fossils of many 

 kinds, seems to indicate a paucity, if not an entire absence, at this time, 

 of such animals. 



CHAPTEE III. 



PRIMARY OR PALAEOZOIC SYSTEM OF ROCKS AND PALAEOZOIC 



ERA. 



General Description. 



This is a distinct system of rocks, revealing a distinct time-world — 

 a distinct rock-system, containing the record of a distinct life-system. 

 The rock-system is distinct, being everywhere unconfirmed to the 

 Lanrentian oeloiv and the Secondary above — a bound volume — volume 

 second of the Book of Time. The life-system is also equally distinct, 



19 



