Still more recently, a Pyrgoma, a member of
a distinct subfamily of sessile cirripedes, has been discovered by Mr.
Woodward in the upper chalk; so that we now have abundant evidence of the
existence of this group of animals during the secondary period.
The case most frequently insisted on by palaeontologists of the apparently
sudden appearance of a whole group of species, is that of the teleostean
fishes, low down, according to Agassiz, in the Chalk period. This group
includes the large majority of existing species. But certain Jurassic and
Triassic forms are now commonly admitted to be teleostean; and even some
palaeozoic forms have thus been classed by one high authority. If the
teleosteans had really appeared suddenly in the northern hemisphere at the
commencement of the chalk formation, the fact would have been highly
remarkable; but it would not have formed an insuperable difficulty, unless
it could likewise have been shown that at the same period the species were
suddenly and simultaneously developed in other quarters of the world. It
is almost superfluous to remark that hardly any fossil-fish are known from
south of the equator; and by running through Pictet's Palaeontology it will
be seen that very few species are known from several formations in Europe.
Some few families of fish now have a confined range; the teleostean fishes
might formerly have had a similarly confined range, and after having been
largely developed in some one sea, have spread widely.
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