PERMIAN PERIOD 
And all as yet old-fashioned tails possess, 
Tails to whose end the spine is wont to press : 
Such as the sharks and sturgeons of to-day, 
Amongst their free-tailed brethren, still display. 50 
Amphibian forms the highest goal attained 
As yet by Life new strength and scope have gained. 
Forms fast increase like those that in the days 
Of flooded forests picked their slippery ways. 
But in their ranks new creatures semblance bearing 55 
More close to reptile life are now appearing : 
Large lizard forms, whose frames and ventral skin 
Bear witness less of finny origin. 
And some are here like to the Sphenodon, 
That creeps to-day with languid limbs upon 60 
New Zealand's northward isles ; and terror bound 
By all the newer life fast closing round. 
Thus rise the Reptiles, rugged pioneers 
Of many forms as strange in after years. 
And here they live the very lords of earth, 65 
Though maybe Graces smiled not on their birth. 
See Naosaurus here, a beast-like creature, 
Whose back, high-crested, seems his strangest feature. 
If foes he has, well may his lofty crest 
A terror strike, e'en in the stoutest breast. 70 
4' 
