By Anrncx oe ©, Sowersy, F28, 'The conquest of its environment thas ever been one of the most important occupations of the living organism. It matters not how low down' in the scale of life. it may be, the living organism must become! master of its surroundings oF be= come extinct, and right from the beginning we see a response to thi necessity. Probably the first ele-tment in which life developed was water, and we find throughout aquatic animals and plants all kinds of organic and morphological developments in order that they may Jive, move and have their being with the minimum of trouble and the maximum of ease in this el ment. Limbs, breathing apparatus, coverings, cireulation—all are modified and adapted to existence in the ware The next step in the process of evolution of animal and plant life was the conquest of the land, and haw well this was accomplished see all round us. Plants developed tough, woody fibres in order that they might rear their heads above the level of the ground and reach out to the light and warmth of the sun.
Animals developed mechanism to enable them to progress on land, at the same time adapting their breath-Ing apparatus to utilizing oxygen direct from the air, In many other ways. they specialized, and behold 4 world peopled with an innumerable host of land creatures, crawling, vrigeling or running' in. their search for food, After the land and water had been thoroughly conquered, there remained only the air, and very soon in the history of animal life on the earth living organisms began tne conquest of this element. This was a new and wonderful venture, end one which stil offers all kinds of possibilities The first living organisms to at tombe ly were the insects, and to-day we find in the most ancient rocks, the fossil ro of gauzy wing: which prove ively that thei attempts were successful, Dvagonfies of 18 inches to two fect span eros the wings flew about in the Mteamy air of the Carboniferous Age; monster cockroaches and hneoties but little different, except in ize, from some of our modern forms, droned through the mi the swamps of that long distant
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.