[40] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 243. Mr. Godwin Austen has, also, stated his opinion that the Old Red Sandstone, as distinct from the Devonian rocks, was of lacustrine origin. The absence of marine shells helps to this conclusion, and the nearest living analogues of some of the fishes are found in the fresh water of Africa and North America. Even the occurrence in the Devonian rocks of Devonshire and Russia of some Old Red Sandstone fishes along with marine shells, merely proves that some of them were fitted to live in either fresh or salt water, like various existing fishes. At the present day animals that are commonly supposed to be essentially marine, are occasionally found inhabiting fresh water, as is the case in some of the lakes of Sweden, where it is said marine crustacea are found. Mr. Alexander Murray also states that in the inland fresh-water lakes of Newfoundland seals are common, living there without even visiting the sea. And the same is the case in Lake Baikal, in Central Asia. The red colour of the Old Red Sandstone of England and Scotland, and the total absence of fossils, except in the very uppermost beds, are considered by Professor Ramsay to indicate that the strata were deposited in inland waters. These fossils are terrestrial ferns, _Adiantites_ (Pecopteris) _Hibernicus_, and a fresh-water shell, _Anodon Jukesii_, together with the fish _Glyptolepis_.[41] [41] “On the Red Rocks of England,” by A. C. Ramsay. _Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. xxvii., p. 247. The rocks deposited during the Devonian period exhibit some species of animals and plants of a much more complex organisation than those which had previously made their appearance. We have seen, during the Silurian epoch, organisms appearing of very simple type; namely, zoophytes, articulated and molluscous animals, with algæ and lycopods, among plants. We shall see, as the globe grows older, that organisation becomes more complex. Vertebrated animals, represented by numerous Fishes, succeed Zoophytes, Trilobites, and Molluscs. Soon afterwards Reptiles appear, then Birds and Mammals; until the time comes when man, His supreme and last work, issues from the hands of the Creator, to be king of all the earth--man, who has for the sign of his superiority, intelligence--that celestial gift, the emanation from God. Vast inland seas, or lakes covered with a few islets, form the ideal of the Old Red Sandstone period. Upon the rocks of these islets the mollusca and articulata of the period exhibit themselves, as represented on the opposite page (PLATE IX.). Stranded on the shore we see armour-coated Fishes of strange forms. A group of plants (_Asterophyllites_) covers one of the islets, associated with plants nearly herbaceous, resembling mosses, though the true mosses did not appear till a much later period. _Encrinites_ and _Lituites_ occupy the rocks in the foreground of the left hand.