CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 
Other related forms are sallying forth, 
That by resource and might have proved their worth. 
King-crab-like forms, that with the water-fleas 75 
Throve in the shallows of Silurian seas, 
Are forging on. And higher crusted life 
Has now emerged from change, and stress, and strife. 
The Shrimp-like forms that in Devonian days 
Darted about the sandy lakes and bays 80 
Abundant are ; and these may prove to be 
Of lobsters and the like the ancestry. 
Large Shark-like forms Port Jackson sharks resembl- 
ing 
With crushing teeth, push on their way through trembling 
Ganoid and shelly life : where too some Ray 85 
And Dog-fish looking creatures spread dismay. 
And humble fishes by their foes made craven 
Oft take to stream or lake as to a haven. 
Though pain and death indeed can never be 
Divested wholly of their mystery ; 90 
In Nature yet they have a purpose clear : 
To force life on to every clime and sphere, 
And make it in more noble forms appear. 
And though comes trial to life, in every state, 
The part it plays seems but subordinate. 95 
In many parts the Earth's contracting crust 
Bulges again, forced by the press and thrust 
c 33 
