GEOLOGICAL TIME

A SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN AND SUCCESSION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS

BY

SIR J. WILLIAM DAWSON

C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Etc.

AUTHOR OF “ACADIAN GEOLOGY,” “THE STORY OF THE EARTH,” “EGYPT AND SYRIA; THEIR PHYSICAL FEATURES IN RELATION TO BIBLE HISTORY,” ETC.

THIRD AND REVISED EDITION

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,

56 Paternoster Row; 65 St. Paul’s Churchyard; and 164 Piccadilly

1888

Richard Clay and Sons. LONDON AND BUNGAY.

PREFACE.

Questions as to the origin and history of life are not at the present time answered by mere philosophical speculation and poetical imagining. Such solutions of these questions as science can profess to have obtained are based on vast accumulations of facts respecting the remains of animals and plants preserved in the rocky beds of the earth’s crust, which have been successively accumulated in the course of its long geological history. These facts undoubtedly afford the means of attaining to very certain conclusions on many points relating to the history of life on the earth. But, on the other hand, they have furnished the material for hypotheses which, though confidently affirmed to be indisputable, have no real foundation in nature, and are indirectly subversive of some of the most sacred beliefs of mankind.

In these circumstances it is most desirable that those who are not specialists in such matters should be in a position to judge for themselves; and it does not appear impossible in the actual state of knowledge, to present, in terms intelligible to the general reader, such a view of the ascertained sequence of the forms of life as may serve at once to give exalted and elevating views of the great plan of creation, and to prevent the deceptions of pseudo-scientists from doing their evil work. Difficulties, no doubt, attend the attempt. They arise from the number and variety of the facts, from the uncertainties attending many important points, from the new views constantly opening up in the progress of discovery, and from the difficulty of presenting in an intelligible form the preliminary data in biology and geology necessary for the understanding of the questions in hand. In order, as far as possible, to obviate these difficulties, the plan adopted in this work has been to note the first known appearance of each leading type of life, and to follow its progress down to the present time or until it became extinct. This method is at least natural and historical, and has commended itself to the writer as giving a very clear comprehension of the actual state of our knowledge, and as presenting some aspects of the subject which may be novel and suggestive even to those who have studied it most deeply.

In selecting examples and illustrations, the writer has endeavoured to avoid, as far as possible, those already familiar to the general reader. He has carefully sought for the latest facts, while rejecting as unproved many things that are confidently asserted; and has endeavoured to avoid all that is irrelevant to the subject in hand, and to abstain from all technical terms not absolutely essential. In a work at once so wide in its scope, so popular in its character, and so limited in its dimensions, a certain amount of hostile criticism on the part of specialists is to be expected, some portion of it perhaps just, other portions arising from narrow prejudices due to limited lines of study. The writer is willing to receive such comments with attention and gratitude, but he would deprecate the misuse of them in the interest of those coteries which are at present engaged in the effort to torture nature into a confession of belief in the doctrines of a materialistic or agnostic philosophy.

The title of the work was suggested by that of Gaudry’s recent attractive book, Les Enchaînements du Monde animal. It seemed well fitted to express the connection and succession of forms of life, without implying their derivation from one another, while it reminds us that nature is not a fortuitously tangled skein, and that the links which connect man himself with the lowest and oldest creatures bind him also to the throne of the Eternal.

In the few years that have elapsed since the publication of the first edition of this work, great additions have been made to our knowledge of fossil animals and plants. Many new species have been described, and many new facts have been discovered, respecting species previously known. This rapid progress of discovery has, however, invalidated few of the statements made in the first edition, and has certainly established nothing against the general laws of the succession of life as stated in this work.

Perhaps the most interesting phase of recent discovery is the tracing back of certain forms of life to earlier periods of the earth’s geological history. Some of the most recent facts of this kind are the finding, by M. Charles Brongniart, of a fossil insect, allied to the Blattae or cockroaches, in the Silurian of Spain, that of true Scorpions in the Upper Silurian of Sweden by Lindström, and in the Upper Silurian of Scotland by Peach, who has also described fossil Millipedes from the Lower Devonian. The tendency of such discoveries is to carry farther back the origin of highly specialised forms of life, and thus to render less probable their origin by any process of gradual derivation.

Other discoveries serve to fill up blanks in our knowledge, and thus to render the geological record less imperfect. Of this kind is the close approximation now worked out in Western America between the end of the reign of the great Mesozoïc reptiles and the beginning of that of the mammals of the Tertiary—a great and abrupt revolution, effected apparently by a coup de main. I have myself had opportunity to show that a similarly sharp line separates that quaint old Mesozoïc flora of pines, cycads and ferns, which extends upward into the Lower Cretaceous, from the rich and luxuriant assemblage of broad-leaved trees of modern aspect, which takes its place in the middle part of the same formation.

It is not too much to say that these and similar discoveries, while they serve to bridge over gaps in the succession of organic beings, do not favour the theory of slow modification of types. They rather point to a law of rapid development of new forms under special conditions as yet unknown to science, and this accompanied with the extinction of older species. Recent discoveries also present many remarkable instances of the early introduction of highly specialised types, of higher forms preceding those that are lower in the same class, and of the persistence of certain types throughout geological time without any important change.

J. W. D.

McGill College.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. Preliminary Considerations as to the Extent and Sources of our Knowledge 1

II. The Beginning of Life on the Earth 21

III. The Age of Invertebrates of the Sea 45

IV. The Origin of Plant Life on the Land 89

V. The Appearance of Vertebrate Animals 117

VI. The First Air-breathers 137

VII. The Empire of the Great Reptiles 165

VIII. The First Forests of Modern Type 185

IX. The Reign of Mammals 207

X. The Advent of Man 233

XI. Review of the History of Life 253

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispiece.—Life in the Silurian Age To face Title.

fig page

1. Bank of stream or coast, showing stratification 4

2. Section of Niagara Falls 4

3. Section obtained by boring, near Goderich, Ontario 5

4. Inclined beds, holding fossil plants 6

5. Ideal section of the Apalachian Mountains 7

6. Generalised section across England from Menai Straits to the Valley of the Thames 9

7. Generalised section from the Laurentian of Canada to the coal-field of Michigan 9

8. Unconformable superposition of Devonian Conglomerate on Silurian slates, at St. Abb’s Head, Berwickshire 10

9. Section of Trenton limestone, Montreal 14

10. Diagram showing different state of fossilisation of a cell of a Tabulate Coral 15

11. Cast of erect tree (Sigillaria) in Sandstone 16

12. Protichnites septem-notatus 17

12a. Footprints of modern Limulus, or king-crab 18

13. Current markings on shale, resembling a fossil plant 18

Frontispiece. Magnified and restored section of a portion of Eozoon canadense 20

14. Ideal section, showing the relations of the Laurentian and Huronian 24

15. Small weathered specimen of Eozoon 28

16. Nature-printed specimen of Eozoon slightly etched with acid 29

17. Magnified group of canals in supplemental skeleton of Eozoon 31

18. Portion of Eozoon magnified 100 diameters 31

19. Magnified portion of shell of Calcarina 32

20. Amœba, a fresh-water naked Rhizopod; and Actinophrys, a fresh-water Protozoon 34

21. Nonionina, a modern marine Foraminifer 34

22. Stromatopora concentrica 35

23. Caunopora planulata 36

24. Archæocyathus minganensis. A Primordial Protozoon 37

25. Receptaculites. Restored 38

26. Section of Loftusia Persica. An Eocene Foraminifer 39

27. Foraminiferal Rock Builders, in the Cretaceous and Eocene 41

Frontispiece. Paradoxides Regina (Matthew) 44

28. Group of Cambrian Animals 46

29. Portion of skeleton of Hexactinellid Sponge (Cœloptychium) 49

30. Protospongia fenestrata (Salter) 50

31. Astylospongia præmorsa (Roemer) 51

32. Spicules of Lithistid Sponge (Trichospongia, Billings) 51

33. Oldhamia antiqua (Forbes) 52

34. Dictyonema sociale. Enlarged 52

35. Dictyonema Websteri (Dn.) 53

36. Group of modern Hydroids allied to Graptolites 54

37. Silurian Graptolitidæ 55

38. Central portion of Graptolite, with membrane, or float (Dichograpsus octobrachiatus, Hall) 55

39. Ptilodictya acuta (Hall). Bryozoan 55

39a. Fenestella Lyelli (Dn.). A Carboniferous Bryozoan 56

40. Chaetetes fibrosa. A Tabulate Coral with microscopic cells 56

41. a, Stenopora exilis (Dn.). b, Chaetetes tumidus (Edwards and Haine) 57

42. Living Anthozoan Coral (Astræa) 58

43. Tabulate Corals (Halisites and Favosites) 59

44. Rugose Coral (Heliophyllum Halli) 59

44a. Zaphrentis prolifica (Billings) 60

45. Rugose Corals (Zaphrentis Minas, Dn., and Cyathophyllum Billingsi, Dn.) 60

46. Modern Crinoid (Rhizocrinus Lofotensis) 61

47. Palæaster Niagarensis (Hall) 62

48. Palæchinus ellipticus (McCoy) 62

49. Pleurocystites squamosus 63

50. Heterocrinus simplex (Meek) 63

51. Body of Glyptocrinus 63

52. Extracrinus Briareus 64

53. Pentacrinus caput-medusæ 64

54. Lingula anatina 65

55. Cambrian and Silurian Lingulæ 65

56. Terebratula sacculus (Martin) 66

57. Brachiopods; genus Orthis 66

58. Rhynchonella increbrescens (Hall) 66

59. Spirifer mucronatus (Conrad) 67

59a. Athyris subtilita (Hall) 67

60. Productus cora (D’Orbigny) 68

61. Group of Older Palæozoic Lamellibranchs 69

62. Conularia planicostata (Dn.). A Carboniferous Pteropod 70

63. Silurian Sea-snails 70

64. Squid (Loligo) 72

65. Pearly Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) 72

66. Orthoceras 73

67. Gomphoceras 73

68. Lituites 73

69. Nautilus Avonensis (Dn.) 74

70. Goniatites crenistria (Philips) 74

71. Ceratites nodosus (Schloth) 75

72. Ammonites Jason (Reinecke) 76

72a. Suture of Ammonites componens (Meek) 76

73. Cretaceous Ammonitidæ 77

74. Belemnite 78

74a. Belemnoteuthis antiquus 78

75. Cambrian Trilobites 79

76. Transverse section of Calymene. A Silurian Trilobite 80

76a. Burrows of Trilobite and of modern King-crab 81

77. Silurian Trilobites 82

78. Devonian and Carboniferous Trilobites 83

79. Palæozoic Ostracod Crustaceans 83

80. Pterygotus anglicus 84

81. Amphipeltis paradoxus (Salter) 85

82. Anthropalæmon Hilliana (Dn.) 85

Frontispiece. Cordaites, of the group of Dory-Cordaites 88

83. Protannularia Harknessii (Nicholson) 91

84. American Lower Silurian Plants 92

86. Fragment of outer surface of Glyptodendron of Claypole 93

87. Psilophyton princeps (Dn.) 95

88. Trunk of a Devonian Tree-fern (Caulopteris Lockwoodi, Dn.) 97

89. Frond of Archæopteris Jacksoni (Dn.) 98

90. Portion of a branch of Leptophleum rhombicum (Dn.) 98

91. Calamites radiatus (Brongniart) 99

92. A Devonian Taxine Conifer (Dadoxylon ouangondianum, Dn.) 100

93. Group of Devonian fruits, &c. 101

94. Structures of the oldest-known Angiospermous Exogen (Syringoxylon mirabile, Dn.) 102

95. Asterophyllites parvula (Dn.) and Sphenophyllum antiquum (Dn.) 103

96. Calamites 104

97. Carboniferous Ferns 105

98. Carboniferous Tree-ferns 107

99. Lepidodendron corrugatum (Dn.) 108

100. Sigillariæ of the Carboniferous 109

101. Trigonocarpum Hookeri (Dn.) 111

Frontispiece. Pteraspis. Restored 116

102. Siluro-Cambrian Conodonts 118

103. Lower Carboniferous Conodont 119

104. a, Head-shield of an Upper Silurian Fish (Cyathaspis); b, Spine of a Silurian Shark (Onchus tenui-striatus, Agass.); c, d, Scales of Thecodus 121

105. Cephalaspis Dawsoni (Lankester) 122

106. Devonian Placoganoid Fishes (Pterichthys cornutus, Cephalaspis Lyelli) 123

107. Devonian Lepidoganoid Fishes (Diplacanthus and Osteolepis) 124

108. Modern Dipnoi (Ceratodus Fosteri and Lepidosiren annectus) 124

109. Anterior part of the palate of Dipterus 125

110. Dental plate of Conchodus plicatus (Dn.) 126

111. Dental plate of Ceratodus Barrandii 126

112. Dental plate of Ceratodus serratus 127

113. Jaws of Dinichthys Hertzeri (Newberry) 127

114. Lower Jaw of Dinichthys Hertzeri 128

115. Jaws of Lepidosiren 128

116. A small Carboniferous Ganoid (Palæoniscus (Rhadinichthys) Modulus, Dn.) 129

117. Teeth and Spines of Carboniferous Sharks 130

118. Teeth of Cretaceous Sharks (Otodus and Ptychodus) 131

119. Tooth of a Tertiary Shark (Carcharodon) 132

120. A Liassic Ganoid (Dapedius) 132

121. Cretaceous Fishes of the modern or Teleostian type (Beryx Lewesiensis and Portheus molossus, Cope) 133

122. Modern Ganoids (Polypterus and Lepidosteus) 134

Frontispiece. A Microsaurian of the Carboniferous Period (Hylonomus Lyelli) 136

123. Wings of Devonian Insects 140

124. Land-snail (Pupa vetusta, Dn.) 143

125. Land-snail (Zonites (Conulus) priscus, Carpenter) 143

126. Millipedes (Xylobius sigillariæ, Dn.; Archiulus Xylobioides, Scudder; X. farctus, Scudder) 145

127. Wings of Cockroaches 146

128. Wing of May-fly (Haplophlebium Barnesii, Scudder) 147

129. A Jurassic Sphinx-moth (Sphinx Snelleri, Weyenburgh) 148

130. An Eocene Butterfly (Prodryas persephone, Scudder) 149

131. Abdominal part of a Carboniferous Scorpion 150

132. Carboniferous Scorpion (Eoscorpius carbonarius, Meek and Worthen) 151

133. Footprints of one of the oldest known Batrachians, probably a species of Dendrerpeton 152

134. Archegosaurus Decheni 154

135. Ptyonius 154

136. A large Carboniferous Labyrinthodont (Baphetes planiceps, Owen) 155

137. Baphetes planiceps (Owen) 156

138. A lizard-like Amphibian (Hylonomus aciedentatus) 157

139. Stelliosaurus longicostatus (Fritsch) 158

140. Section showing the position of an erect Sigillaria, containing remains of land animals 160

140a. Section of base of erect Sigillaria, containing remains of land animals 161

Frontispiece. Inhabitants of the English Seas in the Age of Reptiles 164

141. Arm of Proterosaurus Speneri 166

142. Skeleton of Ichthyosaurus 167

142a. Head of Pliosaurus 168

142b. Paddle of Plesiosaurus Oxoniensis 168

143. Skeleton of Clidastes 170

144. An Anomodont Reptile of the Trias (Dicynodon lacerticeps, Owen) 170

145. A Theriodont Reptile of the Trias (Lycosaurus) 170

146. Skeleton of Pterodochylus crassirostris 170

147. Restoration of Rhamphorhyncus Bucklandi 171

148. A Jurassic bird (Archæopteryx macroura) 172

149. Jaw of a Cretaceous Toothed Bird (Ichthyornis dispar) 173

150. Jaw of Bathygnathus borealis (Leidy) 174

151. Hadrosaurus Foulkii (Cope) 175

152. Jaws of Megalosaurus 176

153. Tooth of Megalosaurus 177

154. Compsognathus 179

Frontispiece. Lower Cretaceous Leaves 184

155. Sassafras cretaceum (Newberry) 190

156. Liriodendron primævum (Newberry) 191

157. Onoclea sensibilis 191

158. Davallia tenuifolia 192

159. Eocene Leaves 194

160. An Ancient Clover (Trifolium palæogæum, Saporta) 195

161. An Eocene Maple (Acer sextianus, Saporta) 195

162. A European Magnolia of the Eocene (M. dianæ, Saporta) 195

163. Flower and Leaf of Bombax sepultiflorum 196

164. Branch and Fruit of Sequoia Couttsiæ (Heer) 197

165. Cinnamomum Scheuchzeri (Heer) 198

Frontispiece. Sivatherium giganteum 206

166. Jaw of Dromatherium sylvestre (Emmons) 209

167. Myrmecobius fasciatus 209

168. Jaw and Molar of Phascolotherium Bucklandi 210

169. Jaw and Pre-molar of Plagiaulax Becklesii 210

170. Restoration of Palæotherium magnum 211

171. Skull of a Lower Eocene Perissodactyl (Coryphodon Hamatus) 214

172. Fore-foot of Coryphodon 215

173. Skull of Upper Eocene Perissodactyl (Dinoceras mirabilis) 216

174. Fore-foot of Dinoceras 217

175. Skull of Miocene Perissodactyl (Brontotherium ingens, Marsh) 217

176. Series of Equine feet 218

177. Skull of generalised Miocene Ruminant (Oreodon major) 221

178. Lower Jaw of Megatherium 222

179. Ungual Phalanx and Claw-core of Megatherium 222

180. Tooth of Eocene Whale (Zeuglodon cetioides) 223

181. Mastodon ohioticus 225

182. Head of Dinotherium giganteum 226

183. Wing of Eocene Bat (Vespertilio aquensis) 226

184. Skull of a Cymetar-toothed Tiger (Machairodus cultridens) 228

185. Lower Jaw of Dryopithecus Fontani 229

Frontispiece. Contemporaries of Post-Glacial Man 232

186. Elephas primigenius 241

187. Tooth of Elasmotherium 242

188. Engis Skull 243

189. Outlines of Three Prehistoric European Skulls compared with an American Skull 244

190. Flint Implement found in Kent’s Cavern, Torquay 245

191. Bone Harpoon (Palæocosmic) 246

192. Sketch of a Mammoth carved on a portion of a Tusk of the same Animal 249

Tabular View of Geological Periods and of Life-Epochs.

Geological Periods. Animal Life. Vegetable Life.

Cainozoic or Neozoic Post-Tertiary or Tertiary ┌Modern └Post-Glacial Age of Man and modern Mammals. Age of Angiosperms and Palms.

Tertiary ┌Pleistocene or │Glacial. │Pliocene. │Miocene. └Eocene. Age of Extinct Mammals. (Earliest Placental Mammals.)

Mesozoic Cretaceous ┌Upper, │Lower, or └Neocomian Age of Reptiles and Birds (Earliest Modern Trees) Age of Cycads and Pines.

Jurassic ┌Oolite └Lias

Triassic ┌Upper, │Middle or │Muschelkalk. └Lower. Age of Reptiles and Birds (Earliest Marsupial Mammals.)

PalÆozoic. Permian ┌Upper, │Upper, │Middle, or │Magnesian Limestone, └Lower. (Earliest true Reptiles) Age of Acrogens and Gymnodperms. (Earliest Land Plants.) Age of Algæ.

Carboniferous ┌Upper Coal-Formation. │Coal-Formation. │Carboniferous Limestome. └Lower Coal-Formation.

Devonian ┌Upper. │Middle. └Lower. Age of Amphibians and fishes.

Silurian ┌Upper. └Lower. Age of Mollusks Corals and Crusyaceans.

Siluro Cambrian or Ordovician. ┌Upper. └Lower.

Cambrian. ┌Upper. │Middle. └Lower.

Eozoic. Huronian ┌Upper, │Upper, └Lower. Age of Protozoa. (First animal remains) Indications of Plants not determinable

aurentian. ┌Upper. │Middle, │Lower. or └Bojian.