|l |CARBONIFEROUS, 26,000 ft. |Earliest Amphibian (Labyrinthodont); |e | | extinction of Trilobites; first |o | Coal. | Cray-fish; Beetles; Cockroaches; |z | | Centipedes; Spiders. |o | +--------------------------------------- |i |DEVONIAN, 18,000 ft. |Cartilaginous and Ganoid Fishes; |c | Old Red Sandstone. | earliest and (snail) and freshwater | | | Shells; Shell-Fish abundant; decline |o | | of Trilobites; May-flies; Crab. |r | +--------------------------------------- | |SILURIAN, 33,000 ft. |Earliest Fish; the first Air-Breathers |P | | (Insect, Scorpion); Brachiopods and |r | | 4-gilled Cephalopods very abundant; |i | | Trilobites; Corals; Graptolites. |m | +--------------------------------------- |a |CAMBRIAN, 24,000 ft. |Trilobites; Brachiopod Mollusks. |r | | |y | | |---|--------------------------+--------------------------------------- |A |ARCHÆEAN, 30,000 ft. | |z | Huronian. |Eozoön, (probably not a fossil). |o | Laurentian. | |i |--------------------------+--------------------------------------- |c |PRIMEVAL. |Non-sedimentary. +------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ I submit, then, that so far as the largest and most general principles in the matter of palæontology are concerned, we have about as strong and massive a body of evidence as we could reasonably expect this branch of science to yield; for it is at once enormous in amount and positive in character. Therefore, if I do not further enlarge upon the evidence which we here have, as it were _en masse_, it is only because I do not feel that any words could add to its obvious significance. It may best be allowed to speak for itself in the millions of facts which are condensed in this tabular statement of the order of succession of all the known forms of animal life, as presented by the eminent palæontologist, Professor Cope[17]. [17] For difficulties and objections, see Appendix. Or, taking a still more general survey, this tabular statement may be still further condensed, and presented in a diagrammatic form, as it has been by another eminent American palæontologist, Prof. Le Conte, in his excellent little treatise on _Evolution and its Relations to Religious Thought_. The following is his diagrammatic representation, with his remarks thereon.