DEVONIAN PERIOD 
BUT be the fortunes of the land what may, 
Life in the waters can pursue its way 
Less fraught with risk. And in its safer place 
Onward is pressing fast the finny race. 
The shielded Ganoids now swim far and wide 5 
In sea and lake, in all their bucklered pride. 
And in their armoured ranks new forms appear ; 
Amongst them some with massive cephalic gear ; 
As if the fight for life had grown intense, 
And stouter shields were needed for defence. 10 
In ranks unbucklered new forms too arise, 
Amongst them creatures grown to giant size, 
Whose massive jaws, with big sharp teeth a-rife, 
Must send to instant death much humble life. 
And in the increasing Ganoids' bright-scaled throng 15 
Fishes akin to Sturgeon swim along. 
Mud-fish-like looking forms, some huge in size, 
Lurk here and there in swampy estuaries. 
Unlike the Shark and Ganoid species, 
A double means of breathing these possess ; 20 
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