Chapter I: Preface

Although the present volume, as giving an account of the _vertebrate_ animals, is a natural sequel to, and completion of, my former book, _Life and her Children_, which treated of _invertebrates_, yet it is a more independent work, both in plan and execution, than I had at first contemplated.

This arises from the nature of the subject. The structure and habits of the lower forms of life are sufficiently simple to be treated almost without reference to geological history. When, however, I began to sketch out the lives and structure of the vertebrate animals, which are so closely interlinked one with another and yet so sharply separated into groups, I soon found that I must carry my readers into the past in order to give any intelligible account of the present.

I have therefore endeavoured to describe graphically the early history of the backboned animals, so far as it is yet known to us, keeping strictly to such broad facts as ought in these days to be familiar to every child and ordinarily well-educated person, if they are to have any true conception of Natural History. At the same time I have dwelt as fully as space would allow, upon the lives of such modern animals as best illustrate the present divisions of the vertebrates upon the earth; my object being rather to follow the tide of life, and sketch in broad outline how structure and habit have gone hand-in-hand in filling every available space with living beings, than to multiply descriptions of the various species. If my younger readers will try and become familiar with the types selected, either alive in zoological gardens or preserved in good museums, they will, I hope, acquire a very fair idea of the main branches of the Backboned Family.[1]

In order to treat so vast a subject simply and within narrow limits, it has often been necessary to pass lightly over new and startling facts. I trust, however, it will not be inferred that such passages have been lightly or carelessly written, for in all cases I have sought, and most gratefully acknowledge, the assistance of some of our best authorities; and I have endeavoured that what little is said upon difficult subjects shall be a true foundation for wider knowledge in the future.

Among the many friends who have rendered me valuable assistance, I cannot sufficiently express my obligations to Professor W. Kitchen Parker for his unwearying kindness in explaining obscure points of anatomical structure, and to my friends Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, Professor A. C. Haddon of Dublin, and Mr. Garnett of the British Museum, for constant suggestion and encouragement. I am also indebted to Mr. J. P. Anderson of the British Museum for aid in the arrangement of the Index.

The geological restorations given as picture-headings (some of which are here attempted, I believe, for the first time) have been most carefully considered, though the exact forms of such strange and extinct animals must necessarily be somewhat conjectural. My thanks are due to the artist, Mr. Carreras, jun., for the patience and care with which he has followed my instructions regarding them, and also to Mr. Smit for his masterly execution of the frontispiece.[2]

I have been asked why, in this and the former work, I have not given genealogical tables to help the reader to follow the relations of the various groups. My reason is, that it is impossible to construct tables of this kind without giving a false idea of the fixity of natural divisions and of the extent of our knowledge. To men of science, who know how provisional such tables are, they have a certain value, but they would be positively harmful in a work of this kind, which will have fully accomplished its purpose if it only awakens in young minds a sense of the wonderful interweaving of life upon the earth, and a desire to trace out the ever-continuous action of the great Creator in the development of living beings.

ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.

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.