34 
LORQUINIA 
being the only vertebrate creature then existing, but foreshadowing 
the finny tribe, found in every sea, lake and stream today, and for 
which Izaak Walton and his disciples have always been thankful. 
The ornithologist may look back to the Archgeopterix of the Ju- 
rassic period and find there an ancestor of the feathered songsters of 
our day. Later, in the Cretaceous, the Ichthyornis and Hesperornis 
and other primitive forms still retained many of their reptilian ances- 
tor's features, such as a mouth full of teeth and a long lizard-like 
tail. 
The entomologist will be well repaid for research in the paleon- 
tologic field by the primitive forms of insect life. From the lower 
Silurian onward through succeeding ages, there may be found many 
objects of interest in the remains of various forms of insects, although 
records are not as complete as is the case with some other kinds of 
life. 
The botanist also may have a share in the study of paleontology, 
for he may find traces of plant life from the earliest to the most re- 
cent. Paleontologists have brought to light many interesting forms 
of plant life, showing that there has been a gradual development in 
the vegetable kingdom as in the animal world. 
Geologic history has been one oft repeated story of the rise and 
fall of races. Many races have arisen, flourished for a time, then 
dwindled and finally have become extinct. Their fossilized remains 
were left to tell the story of the day when they were in the height of 
their power, the story of their rise, increase in numbers and, in some 
cases, their attainment of enormous size. Then, for some cause, 
their course was halted, they began to decline in numbers and finally 
fell by the wayside, while some other race took their place and rose to 
rule during its allotted time, the same round being again repeated. 
And so the course of life proceeds till the arrival of Man, who, 
in his untiring quest, seeks to unravel the tangled skein link by link, 
and lay before his astonished vision the whole plan which culminated 
in his own occupation and undisputed reign over a world that was 
grand and varied in all its aspects. Though he is yet in the infancy 
of his race, as compared in time with those that have preceded him, 
he has already outstripped them all and stands today at the head of 
the created world. 
Now it is Man's privilege to look back over the geologic field, 
to take a survey of the whole plan of the creation of the world that 
