Successive swarms of vegetarians--Worms, Molluscs, etc.--
followed the plant on to the land; and swarms of carnivores
followed the vegetarians, and assumed strange, new forms in
adaptation to land-life. The migration had probably proceeded
throughout the Devonian period, especially from the calmer shores
of the inland seas. By the middle of the Coal-forest period there
was a very large and varied animal population on the land. Like
the plants, moreover, these animals were of an intermediate and
advancing nature. No bird or butterfly yet flits from tree to
tree; no mammal rears its young in the shelter of the ferns. But
among the swarming population are many types that show a
beginning of higher organisation, and there is a rich and varied
material provided for the coming selection.
The monarch of the Carboniferous forest is the Amphibian. In that
age of spreading swamps and "dim, watery woodlands," the stupid
and sluggish Amphibian finds his golden age, and, except perhaps
the scorpion, there is no other land animal competent to dispute
his rule. Even the scorpion, moreover, would not find the
Carboniferous Amphibian very vulnerable.
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