Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-05-30

slvs paIasozoio and Mesozoic llmestones
are. to a great extent. merely ancient
coral-reefs. yet this Is only ono OF the
minor recent discoveries connected with
the biology Of tho reign.
cUvIER's DISCOVERIES.
Although CuyieY had long previously
described the fossil mammals of the
gypsum auarries' OF Montmarire, while
a considerable amount OF work had al
ready been done on the remains OF those
from the French and German tertiarie5,
most other extinct tertiary land faunas
have been made known since 1877. And
what an important part the discovery
and description OF these faunas and
noras have played In regard to our ideas
Of the evolution Of human beings, and
also I'm respect to geographical distribu-
ton, needs no telling mere. Falconer
and Cautiey's Fauna Antigua Svalen-
sis. I'm which are depicted the extinct
mammalian remains from the Siwalik
hills of Northern India. seems to most
of US a work OF very ancient time;
nevertheless, the first part did not appear
TIL 1875. while the last was published IN
1919. Gaudry's description Of the fossil
animals of Attica only dates from 1862,
while the discoveries of the extinct NAM
malian faunas OF Hungary, Persia,
China. ard Samos are still more modern
events Within the last twenty years the
working of the phosphorites of Central
France for economical purposes has re-
vealed the existence OF n numerous
Ollgocene land fauna with which we
were previously only very imperfectiy
| acquainted. More important than all are
| the archaeological discoveries which
have taken plate late in the reign IN
the Mesozolc and Tertiary deposits or
the United States. These have reyolu-
tionized many preconceived ideas. and
| have shown that for the future the most
important advances in the structure ana
history of the higher yertebrates OF past
epochs must come from the other sloe
| OF the Atlantic Not only have entirely
new groups of mammals, such as the
| horned Dinoceras and Ttanotherium,
! been discovered there. but the remains
| Of Dnosaurian reptiles are met Withih
/ q state of perfection 10 which there is
no comparison in other parts OF the
/ globe. These complete skeletons nave
not only fully borne out the speculauons
| of Huxley and Hulke as TO the close
structural resemblance between these
reptiles and birds, but have also shown
! how nearly the restorations attempted
! bv the English anatomists approached
the reality. Equally important nave
| been the archaeological discoveries III
| South Amerlca--discoveries which mol
| cate. without doubt. a former Tertiary
| land connection between that Continent
J and distant Australia. To even aliude
! to some of the archaeological discoveries
among the lower groups of animals IS
! obviously impossible in the space at our
| disposal.
Systematic zoology and botany nave
passed through several stages during the
period under review. AS already SAID
| at the commencement Of the reign the
| former was laboring under the thrall OF
| the circular hallucnation, from which,
however, it at length cast itself free'
Since that time steady progress has, on
| the whole. been made in most branches
as any one may satisfy himself VINO con-
trasts the Llnnean system (Which was