Page:The Last link.djvu/50

38 most primitive order of that class, the Tocosauria; and besides them there were the Theromorpha, which approach the Mammalia in a remarkable manner. These reptiles in turn were preceded, in the Carboniferous period, by true Amphibia, most of them belonging to the armour-clad Stegocephali. These interesting Progonamphibia were the oldest Tetrapoda, the first vertebrates which had adapted themselves to the terrestrial mode of life; in them the swimming fin of fishes and Dipneusta was transformed into the pentadactyle extremities characteristic of quadrupeds.

To appreciate the high importance of this metamorphosis, we need only compare the skeleton of our own human limbs with that of the living Amphibia. We find in the latter the same characteristic composition as in man: the same shoulder and pelvic girdle; the same single bone, the humerus or the femur, followed by the same pair of bones in the forearm and leg; then the same