XXVII.—Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–1904: Cambrian Organic Remains from a Dredging in the Weddell Sea

Abstract

From a biological point of view considerable interest must always attend any investigation of the earliest known organisms, and, although we may legitimately infer that a flora and fauna existed prior to Cambrian times, the organisms preserved for us in rocks of that age constitute, at present, the first chapter of palæontological history. For this reason alone the Archæocyathinæ are important, since they form part of the Lower Cambrian fauna. When, however, we consider that the genera included in the group are very distinct from one another (indicating that the family was probably of considerable antiquity even in those early times), that the types have, as far as we know, a wide geographical distribution, and that to certain skeletal characters usually associated with the Porifera they unite others more common among the Cœlenterata, interest is still further stimulated. On the other hand, although recorded in great abundance from several widely separated localities, they are not, as a rule, common fossils in Cambrian strata, and consequently the group has not received much attention.