NEBULA TO MAN 
Thrive well the belemnites along the shores, 
In spite of havoc wrought by icthyosaurs ; 
Oft spurting from a well-filled sepia sack 75 
A useful screen and blind against attack ; 
And for their slaughter finding some redress 
In Nature's blessing of prolificness. 
The Shrimp-like life, that in Devonian days, 
And Carbon times, disported in the bays, 80 
And, in new forms, joyed in the Trias tide, 
Has spread its crusty empire far and wide. 
Of true formed shrimps innumerous is the throng. 
Cray-fish-like forms crawl here and there along. 
Small long-tailed lobsters too pursue their way, 8 5 
Shaping to forms about our coasts to-day. 
Craw-fish-like looking animals appear ; 
With fore-limbs, thrice the length their bodies are. 
And short-tailed Crab-like forms, few though they be, 
Increase the crusty empire in the sea. 90 
And changed indeed this empire now appears 
From that which flourished in Silurian years, 
When Trilobites now vanished as a dream 
Reigned with sea-scorpions on the coasts supreme. 
The whale-shaped icthyosaurs sea-life pursue, 95 
Forgetful of the lands their fathers knew ; 
And fattening on the plunder of the main 
Some brutes to length of two score feet attain. 
62 
