CRETACEOUS PERIOD 
Wide though they range ; short record do they show 200 
For in the Creta they both come and go, 
And never reappear. 
With new forms rife 
Now prospers far and wide Crustacean life. 
Crabs, that of yore were "few and far between," 
Are numerous now and widespread on the scene ; 205 
And of the crusted groups would seem to be 
The most progressive in this Creta sea ; 
Holding the palm that in the watery ways 
Was borne by lobsters in Jurassic days. 
Strong wax the fishes up and down the seas, 210 
And both in form and number wide increase. 
Amid old forms sharks here pursue their way 
Akin to Topes and Blue sharks of to-day. 
Dog-fishes too swim in the finny throng, 
And rays, new formed, the coast rocks lurk among. 2 1 5 
Saw-fishes too are here "to do or die," 
And ganoids rise that call to memory 
Forms that were prosperous in the days gone by. 
But gristly fishes now no longer hold 
The briny field as in the days of old. 220 
For bony fishes numerous now are swimming, 
The glory of the older groups bedimming ; 
And though from ancient ganoid groups they started, 
Far are they now from former lines departed : 
85 
