Beginning with the animal kingdom, we find the four great existing divisions of Vertebrata, Mollusca, Articulata, and Radiata, to have been coeval with the commencement of organic life upon our globe.[1]
No higher condition of Vertebrata has been yet discovered in the transition formation than that of fishes, whose history will be reserved for a subsequent chapter.
The Mollusca,[2] in the transition series, afford examples of several families; and many genera, which seem at that time to have been universally diffused over all parts of the world; Some of these, (e. g, the Orthoceratite; Spirifer, and Producta) became extinct at an early period in the history of stratification, whilst other genera (as the Nautilus and Terebratula) have continued through all formations unto the present hour.
The earliest examples of Articulated animals are those
- ↑ "It has not been found necessary, in discussing the history of fossil plants and animals, to constitute a single new class; they all fall naturally into the same great sections asfthe existing forms.—We are warranted in concluding that the older organic creations were formed upon the same general plan as st present. They cannot, therefore, be correctly described as entirely different systems of nature, but should rather be viewed as corresponding systems, composed of different details. The difference of these details arises mostly from minute specific distinctions; but sometimes, especially among terrestrial plants, certain crustaea, and reptiles, the differences are of a more general nature, and it is not possible to refer the fossil tribes to any known recent genus, or even family. Thus we find the problem of the resemblance of recent and fossil organic beings to resolve itself into a general analogy of system, frequent agreement in important points, but almost universal distinction of minute organization."—Phillips's Guide to Geology, p. 61-63, 1834.
- ↑ In this great division, Cuvier includes a vast number of animals having soft bodies, without any articulated skeleton or spinal marrow, such as the Cuttle-fish, and the inhabitants of univalve and bivalve shells.
mains preserved in the several series of formations, by introducing over each, restored figures of a few of the most characteristic animals and vegetables that occupied the lands and waters, at the periods in which they were deposited.
