NEBULA TO MAN 
New types of life ; and these in time recall, 
In but faint manner, their original. 175 
And where else lay for her a starting ground 
For all these curious reptile forms around ? 
Forms Lizard-like, as those of Carbon days, 
That through the brakes and pine-woods found their ways, 
Are still abroad : and in their frames still lie 1 80 
Old signs that mark amphibian ancestry. 
Others Prosauri named are also here, 
Whose structures, more developed, less declare 
Their origin ; and such-like forms, forsooth, 
In Permian days already had come forth. 185 
And here, and more advanced, they still live on ; 
But in our day New Zealand's Sphenodon 
Remains alone on earth to testify 
Their type as still in Nature's family. 
Some other reptiles, Theromorpha called, 190 
Whose grim old sires through Permian woods had 
crawled 
Strange " beast-shaped " creatures, as their name implies 
Are also here of divers families. 
Wide is their range : through Afric's south domains, 
And far away to India's hills and plains 195 
They find their way ; and through Europa's lands 
That lie about the Mid-sea's northern strands. 
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