| [CHAPTER I.] |
| PAGE |
| The Threshold of Backboned Life | [1] |
| [CHAPTER II.] |
| How the quaint old Fishes of Ancient Times have lived on into our day | [20] |
| Picture-Heading—Ideal restoration of Pterygotus, the huge extinct sea-scorpion nine feet long; with the earliest known fish Pteraspis, Cephalaspis, and small shark-like animals swimming among Stone-lilies, Trilobites, etc. (From various sources.) | |
| [CHAPTER III.] |
| The Bony Fish, and how they have spread over Sea, and Lake, and River | [43] |
| Picture-Heading—Restorations of Osmeroides and Beryx, the earliest known bony fishes living in the Cretaceous Period. (From well-known figures.) | |
| [CHAPTER IV.] |
| How the Backboned Animals pass from Water-Breathing to Air-Breathing, and find their Way out upon the land | [70] |
| Picture-Heading—A Carboniferous Forest with ancient Amphibians (Labyrinthodonts). In the water Baphetes; on land Dendrerpeton, Hylonomus, and Hylerpeton. (Animals taken from Dawson’s Air-Breathers of the Coal.) | |
| [CHAPTER V.] |
| The Cold-Blooded Air Breathers of the Globe in Times both Past and Present | [89] |
| Picture-Heading—Reptiles of the Cretaceous Period. On land Iguanodon, 20 feet high, attacked by Megalosaurus; in the air Pterodactyls, or flying lizards; in the water Ichthyosaurus, Mosasaurus, and Teleosaurus, with Plesiosaurus in the background. (From various sources.) | |
| [CHAPTER VI.] |
| The Feathered Conquerors of the Air—Part I. Their Wanderings over Sea and Marsh, Desert and Plain | [123] |
| Picture-Heading—Toothed Water-birds of the Cretaceous Period. Swimming and standing, Hesperornis; flying, Ichthyornis. (Restored from Marsh’s Skeletons.) | |
| [CHAPTER VII.] |
| The Feathered Conquerors of the Air—Part II. From Running to Flying, from Mound Laying to Nest-Building, from Cry to Song | [153] |
| Picture-Heading—Archæopteryx, the lizard-tailed land-bird with teeth. (Restored from figures of the British Museum and German specimens.) | |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] |
| The Mammalia or Milk-givers, the Simplest Suckling Mother, the Active Pouch-Bearers, and the Imperfect-Toothed Animals | [181] |
| Picture-Heading—Scene in the Triassic Period, with small Marsupials Microlestes, whose remains are found earlier than the toothed birds. (Restored conjecturally from the nearest living representative, Myrmecobius.) In the water large swimming reptiles. | |
| [CHAPTER IX.] |
| From the Lower and Small Milk-Givers which find safety in concealment, to the Intelligent Apes and Monkeys | [209] |
| Picture-Heading—Ideal forms of the early Herbivora and Carnivora. In the foreground Paleotherium, Anoplotherium, and Eohippus (this last only restored conjecturally); in the background, Xiphodon and Arctocyon (this last also only an approximation); on the tree, a small lemur; and in front, a hedgehog. | |
| [CHAPTER X.] |
| The Large Milk-givers which have conquered the World by Strength and Intelligence | [256] |
| Picture-Heading—Animals which lived in Europe during the warm periods before the Glacial Cold. On the right, Deinotherium, Mastodon; in background, Helladotherium, ancient giraffes; on the left, Hippopotamus, Tapir, Rhinoceros, Hyæna; in the tree, Pithecus pentelicus. All these animals, except the giraffe, were living in England in the late Tertiary Period. (From various sources.) | |
| [CHAPTER XI.] |
| How the Backboned Animals have returned to the Water, and large Milk-Givers imitate the Fish | [299] |
| Picture-Heading—An ideal scene of Europe in the Glacial Period with the “Hairy Mammoth” in the foreground. | |
| [CHAPTER XII.] |
| A Bird’s-Eye View of the Rise and Progress of Backboned Life | [333] |
| Picture-Heading—Man as he lived in caves after the Glacial Period, among animals of species many of them now extinct—the cave bear (Ursus spelæus), cave lion, cave hyæna (Hyæna spelæa), elk, musk-sheep (Ovibos moschatus), mammoth (Elephas primigenius), and the sabre-toothed tiger (Machairodus), fighting with the man. | |