. The testimony of the rocks; . ve. Reptiles became everywhere the lordsand masters of this lower world. When any class ofthe air-breathing vertebrates is very largely developed, wefind it taking possession of all the three old terrestrial ele-ments,— earth, air, and water. The human period, forinstance, like that which immediately preceded it, is pecu-liarly a period of mammals; and we find the class, free^ if Imay so express myself, of the three elements, disputingpossession of the sea wdth the fishes, in its Cetaceans, itsseals, and its sea-lions, and of the air with the birds, in itsnumero
. The testimony of the rocks; . ve. Reptiles became everywhere the lordsand masters of this lower world. When any class ofthe air-breathing vertebrates is very largely developed, wefind it taking possession of all the three old terrestrial ele-ments,— earth, air, and water. The human period, forinstance, like that which immediately preceded it, is pecu-liarly a period of mammals; and we find the class, free^ if Imay so express myself, of the three elements, disputingpossession of the sea wdth the fishes, in its Cetaceans, itsseals, and its sea-lions, and of the air with the birds, in itsnumerous genera-of the bat family. Further, not until thegreat mammahferous period is fairly ushered in do eitherthe bats or the whales make their appearance in creation. HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 107 Remains of Oolitic reptiles have been mistaken in morethan one instance for those of Cetacea; but it is now gener-ally held that the earUest kno^vTi specimens of the familybelong to the Tertiary ages, while those of the oldest bats Fig. VESPERTILIO PARISIENSIS. A Bat of the Eocene. occur in the Eocene of the Paris Basin, associated withthe bones of dolphins, lamantines, and morses. Now, inthe times of the Oolite it was the reptihan class that pos- Fig. 62
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