London, September 1882.
CONTENTS.
| [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. | |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Picture-Headings described under “[Contents].”
| [Frontispiece]. Fish of the Deep Sea—1. Chauliodus, one foot long;2, 9, 10, 11. Harpodon or Bombay Duck, six inches; 3. Plagiodus,six feet; 4. Chiasmodus, one foot, with Scopelus in itsstomach; 6. Beryx, one foot and a half; 8. Scopelus, one foot. | |
| PAGE | |
| The Lancelet, Amphioxus lanceolatus | [11] |
| Sea-Squirt or Ascidian | [14] |
| Lamprey and Ammocœtes | [16] |
| Structure of Minnow and Living Fish | [23] |
| The Blue Shark | [29] |
| The Sturgeon, Acipenser sturio | [31] |
| The Sturgeon’s Head and Feelers | [32] |
| The Ceratodus of Queensland | [34] |
| Remoras clinging to a Shark | [51] |
| Flying-Fish pursued by the Dorado | [54] |
| The Fishing Frog, Lophius piscatorius | [59] |
| The common Sole, Solea vulgaris | [61] |
| The Hippocampus or Sea-Horse | [63] |
| Sticklebacks and their Nest, Gasterosteus aculeatus | [65] |
| Metamorphosis of the Frog | [72] |
| The common smooth Newt, Lissotriton punctatus | [78] |
| Proteus of the Carniola Caverns | [79] |
| The Axolotl and Amblystoma | [80] |
| The Flying Tree-Frog of New Guinea, Rhacophorus Rheinhardti | [86] |
| The Tortoise | [96] |
| Carapace of the Tortoise | [98] |
| Back of a young Tortoise | [99] |
| Skeleton of a Lizard | [103] |
| Gecko and Chamæleon | [105] |
| The Nile Crocodile | [108] |
| Skeleton of a Snake | [111] |
| Common Ringed Snake | [113] |
| The Boa Constrictor | [115] |
| The Cobra di Capello | [118] |
| Jaw of a Rattlesnake | [119] |
| Common English Viper, Pelias berus | [121] |
| The Sparrow | [125] |
| Skeleton of a Sparrow | [126] |
| The Adjutant Bird | [128] |
| The Ostrich at full Speed | [137] |
| The Giant Moa and Tiny Apteryx | [140] |
| A Group of Sea-Birds | [144] |
| Albatrosses and Penguins | [147] |
| A Group of Wading Birds | [149] |
| The Flamingo | [150] |
| Brush Turkeys and their Egg Mounds | [158] |
| Wood-pigeon on her Nest | [160] |
| The great green Woodpecker, Gecinus viridis | [163] |
| The Kingfisher, Alcedo ispida | [166] |
| Nest of the Common Wren, Troglodytes parvulus | [171] |
| Nest of the Tailor-Bird | [173] |
| Eagle bringing Food to its Young | [175] |
| Jaw of Dromatherium, and Tooth of Microlestes | [183] |
| The Duck-billed Platypus and the Echidna | [188] |
| Head and Feet of Ornithorhynchus | [189] |
| Australian Marsupials | [193] |
| Tasmanian Marsupials | [197] |
| South American Marsupials and imperfect-toothed Animals | [200] |
| African imperfect-toothed Animals | [202] |
| Skulls of an Insect-Eater and a Rodent | [217] |
| A Group of Insect-Eaters | [220] |
| A Group of Rodents | [221] |
| The Pyrenean Desman | [226] |
| The Beaver | [227] |
| The Taguan and the Colugo | [231] |
| Skeleton of a Bat | [233] |
| A Bat Walking | [235] |
| Fruit-Bats hanging in a Mauritius Cave | [238] |
| Aye-aye and Lemur | [244] |
| Woolly Monkey and Child | [247] |
| The Gorilla at Home | [254] |
| The Babirusa, a double-tusked Hog | [262] |
| Skeleton of a Wild Ass | [266] |
| The Camel | [270] |
| The Red-deer with branching Antlers | [272] |
| A Buffalo Cow defending her Calf | [274] |
| The Elephant | [277] |
| The Weasel | [280] |
| The Ichneumon | [281] |
| The Wolf | [283] |
| The Tiger | [287] |
| The Claw of the Cat or Tiger | [289] |
| The Polar Bear and Walrus | [294] |
| The Sea Otter | [302] |
| Skeleton of the Sea Lion | [304] |
| Sea Lion and Seal | [306] |
| Sea Lions on the Watch for Wives | [311] |
| The Manatee | [314] |
| Skeleton of a Whale and Mouth | [318] |
| Whale suckling her Young | [319] |
| The Porpoise | [324] |
| The Sperm Whale | [327] |
THE GREAT BACKBONED FAMILY
CHAPTER I.
THE THRESHOLD OF BACKBONED LIFE.
Life, life, everywhere life! This was the cry with which we began our history of the lowest forms of Life’s children, and although we did not then pass on to the higher animals, is it not true that before we reached the end we were overwhelmed with the innumerable forms of living beings? The microscopic lime and flint builders, the spreading sponges, the hydras, anemones, corals, and jelly-fish filled the waters; the star-fish, sea-urchins, crabs, and lobsters crowded the shores; the oysters, whelks, and periwinkles, with their hundreds of companions, struggled for their existence between the tides; while in the open sea thousands of crustaceans and molluscs, with cuttle-fish and terribly-armed calamaries, roamed in search of food. Upon the land the snails and slugs devoured the green foliage, while the vast army of insects filled every nook and cranny in the water, on the land, or in the air. Yes! even among these lower forms we found creatures enough to stock the world over and over again with abundant life, so that even if the octopus had remained the monarch of the sea, and the tiny ant the most intelligent ruler on the land, there would have been no barren space, no uninhabited tracts, except those burning deserts and frozen peaks where life can scarcely exist.