ooking at the sublime process of evolution. It
has implied a mastery of all the possible haunts of life; it has been a
progressive conquest of the environment.

1. It is highly probable that living organisms found their foothold in
the stimulating conditions of the shore of the sea--the shallow water,
brightly illumined, seaweed-growing shelf fringing the Continents. This
littoral zone was a propitious environment where sea and fresh water,
earth and air all meet, where there is stimulating change, abundant
oxygenation and a copious supply of nutritive material in what the
streams bring down and in the rich seaweed vegetation.

[Illustration: THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA

The newly hatched bird has claws on its thumb and first finger and so is
enabled to climb on the branches of trees with great dexterity until
such time as the wings are strong enough to sustain it in flight.]

[Illustration: _Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History),
of a drawing by Mr. E. Wilson._

PERIPATUS

A widely distributed old-fashioned type of animal, somewhat like a
permanent caterpillar. It has affinities both with worms and with
insects. It has a velvety skin, minute diamond-like eyes, and short
stump-like legs. A defenceless, weaponless animal, it comes out at
night, and is said to capture small insects by squirting jets of slime
from its mouth.]

[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._

ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH

The young are born so helpless that they cannot even suck. The mother
places them in the external pouch, and fitting their mouths on the teats
injects the milk. After a time the young ones go out and in as they
please.]

It is not an easy haunt of life, but none the worse for that, and it is
tenanted to-day by representatives of practically every class of animals
from infusorians to seashore birds and mammals.

The Cradle of the Open Sea

2. The open-sea or pelagic haunt includes all the brightly illumined
surface waters beyond the shallow water of the shore area.

It is perhaps the easiest of all the haunts of life, for there is no
crowding, there is considerable uniformity, and an abundance of food for
animals is afforded by the inexhaustible floating "sea-meadows" of
microscopic Algae. These are reincarnated in minute animals like the
open-sea crustaceans, which again are utilised by fishes, these in turn
making life possible for higher forms like carnivorous turtl