ORGANICREMAINS

ORGANIC REMAINS, FOSSIL.

THE occurrence, in rocks of various kinds, of remains of animals and vegetables, more or less altered, is so remarkable and striking a fact, that it could not fail to attract the notice of mankind, even at an early period. Xenophanes of Colophon is said to have described the remains of fossil fishes found in the stone quarries of Syracuse, and in the deep marble rocks of Paros. Not long after, in the fifth century before Christ, Herodotus mentions fossil shells as occurring in the rocks of Egypt, and states this as a proof of that country's having been formerly an arm of the sea, like the Red Sea. We find some allusions to fossil organic remains even in the poets of antiquity. The following passage from Ovid is an example of this kind:

Vide ego, quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus
Esse fretum, vidi factas ex aequore terras,
Et procul a pelago conche jacere marinas.
Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis.
Metamorph. Lib. XV. v. 62.

But our author confounds true organic remains with the accidental occurrence of an anchor in soil. Not long after the commencement of the Christian era, attempts were made to connect these phenomena with the Deluge of Noah; and in the writings of Tertullian, there are passages that refer to this supposed connection. This opinion afterwards became general, particularly towards the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was attempted to prove, or at least to illustrate, the truths of revelation by appeals to natural history. Thus Büttner, in his Zeichen und Zeugen der Sündflut, published at Ulm, in 1710, and Scheuchzer, in several of his works, as in his Homo Diluvii Testis, Piscium Querelæ et Vindiciæ, Herbarum Diluvianum, &c. enumerate many facts, and state numerous reasons in illustration of the accumulation and deposition of fossil shells, plants, and animals, during a great flood, which they maintain to have been that described in the Old Testament. But the non-occurrence of the remains of man along with those of other animals came to be considered as inimical to this opinion, and by the time of Knorr it was nearly abandoned. Another speculation was soon started in its place, by which it was attempted to show that these remains were not truly organic, but merely efforts of nature to produce organic beings; and, therefore, that these bodies, although exhibiting the organic form, had never been animated. This fancy was

combated by the supporters of the diluvian hypothesis, and the result was, the addition of many new facts, and the total abandonment of both hypotheses. The discovery of remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, &c. in Europe and Northern Asia in a fossil state, gave rise to a new opinion, that these, and many other fossil animals found along with them, had been floated hither from the tropical regions. Forster, Pallas, and others, who advocated this opinion, brought together a host of facts in support of it; and, in this way, contributed, in an eminent degree, to our knowledge of fossil organic remains, and to a more accurate investigation of their various characters and relations. But their speculation, with all its plausibilities, was soon supplanted by that which is at present considered as the most consistent with facts—namely, that the various fossil organic remains, contained in rocks of different kinds, belong to animals and vegetables that formerly lived in the countries where these remains are at present met with. The facts which have been brought to light by the collision of opposite opinions, and by the careful and successful investigations of many naturalists who were contented to view these fossil remains, not as connected with any general geological hypothesis, but as interesting additions to zoology and botany, and important contributions to our knowledge of the physical and geographical distributions of animals and vegetables, are so interesting, even to the general reader, that we shall attempt to give a short account of them, in the following order:—

1. 1. Different kinds of fossil organic remains.
   1. 1. Animal remains.
   2. 2. Vegetable remains.
2. 2. State or condition of these remains.
3. 3. Geognostical situations.
4. 4. Formation of the strata in which these remains are contained.

I.—DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS.

I.—FOSSIL REMAINS OF ANIMALS.

1. Fossil Remains of the Human Species.—When the diluvian controversy was keenly agitated, many descriptions were published of fossil remains of man, said to have been found in secondary rocks of different kinds; but all these, without exception, proved to be remains of the lower animals. Thus the famous

Organic Re-
mains. "homo diluvii testis" of Scheuchzer was found to be a gigantic fossil salamander. The fossil bones of Cerigo, so confidently described by Spallanzani as human, were determined to belong to quadrupeds. The remains of the human species, therefore, do not occur in the secondary strata; but the following facts prove their occurrence in fissures of rocks and in post-diluvial strata. Human bones, and even whole skeletons, have been found in clay in fissures of rocks, being the remains of bodies that had fallen into them; in other cases, human bones and skeletons have been met with, and occasionally more or less mineralized, in old deserted galleries in mines. Some years ago, human skeletons were discovered in a compact calcareous rock in the Island of Guadeloupe. A mass of this rock, inclosing a pretty well preserved human skeleton, but without the head, and wanting the right arm (represented at fig. 1, F, Plate CII.), was sent by Admiral Cochrane to Lord Melville, and afterwards by him deposited in the British Museum. The rock, on examination, proved to be a mere alluvial mass, formed of pieces of coral, that appear to have been thrown up on the shore by the sea, and afterwards united together by water impregnated with calcareous matter. M. Moreau de Jomès thinks these skeletons are remains of persons who had perished by shipwreck. Human bones have lately been found in alluvial soil at Köstritz in Germany, and in such a situation as to render it probable that they are of great antiquity. The absence of human fossil remains from diluvial formations has excited surprise; but this will cease when it is recollected that, probably, at the period of the deluge, the human race had not extended into the countries where fossil organic remains have been examined, and, therefore, are only to be looked for in those regions where man is known to have lived when that event took place.

Hitherto no fossil remains of apes, baboons, monkeys, or other tribes of the order Quadrumana, have been met with; although it is probable that they will be found among the alluvial strata of those regions where these animals now live.

It is probable that fossil species of the larger bats will be found in the alluvial strata of the warmer regions of the earth, and that remains of the smaller European species will be discovered in some of the European formations. The only fossil remains of the animals of this order with which we are acquainted are those represented, fig. 5, Plate CII. These are contained in a slab of limestone from Eichstätt, and belong to a species which must have measured six or seven feet from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The remarkable fossil tribe named Ornithocephalus, to be described after-

wards, in general aspect bears a striking resemblance to bats. Organic Re-
mains.

Two species of this order, both belonging to the genus Didelphis, or Opossum, have been met with in a fossil state; the one was found in the gypsum of Paris, the other in the calcareous oolite slate of Stonesfield in England.

Fossil remains of an animal resembling the Cavia porcellus, or Guinea-pig, have been detected in the limestone of Oeningen; remains of an animal resembling the Lagomys alpinus, a species at present confined to the higher parts of Siberia, were found in the fissures of the rock of Gibraltar; two species of Lepus, one nearly resembling the common rabbit, and the other one-third less, were found in the limestone rocks of Cette; three species of Mus have been met with in a fossil state, one nearly resembling the Mus terrestris, occurs in limestone in Bohemia, and also in the limestone-conglomerate of Corsica, and two others, one referred to the Mus arvalis, and the other to the common water-rat, in the rock of Gibraltar: fossil remains of the common beaver have been met with in alluvial strata in Perthshire and Berwickshire in Scotland, and in similar situations on the Continent; and another species, named Castor trogontherium, was found on the shores of the sea of Azof.

The fossil species of this order, although not numerous, are remarkable for their magnitude and singular organization. Hitherto only two species have been discovered, and apparently both belong to the same genus: the one is the Megatherium, and the other the Megalonyx, of authors. We might assume Megatherium as the generic denomination, and name the South American species Megatherium Australe, and the Megalonyx, or North American species, Megatherium Boreale; but our present view will be answered by describing them under their common names.

Megatherium.—A complete skeleton of this colossal species was found in diluvial soil near Buenos Ayres, and sent to Madrid; afterwards another was discovered near Lima, and a third in Paraguay.* The splendid specimen in Madrid is fourteen feet long, and seven Spanish feet in height. The skeleton of this megatherium is so rude and unshapely, that the clumsy skeleton of the elephant and rhinoceros, and even the massive and rugged bones of the hippopotamus, appear, when placed beside it, slender and light. It is one of the largest and most massive of all the fossil quadrupeds hitherto discovered. Judging from its structure, its motions seem to have been slow and dragging, and, with exception of its long claws, appears to have been more defenceless than any of the other large quadrupeds. The form of the

* Remains of the Megatherium have been lately found in limestone caves in Brazil.

teeth shows that it lived on vegetables, and its long claws are supposed to have been used for digging up the roots on which it is conjectured to have fed. Plate CIII. exhibits a correct representation of this animal from the specimen in the museum at Madrid.

Megalonyx.—This species is smaller than the megatherium, being only the size of the ox. The general form and arrangements of the skeleton are the same as in the megatherium, and the agreement is so considerable, that some naturalists conjecture, although without sufficient ground, that it is a young variety of the megatherium. It appears also to have been herbivorous, and hitherto its remains have been met with only in limestone caves in Virginia.

Several fossil species of this tribe have been met with in different parts of Europe. The following are enumerated by naturalists:

1. 1. Ursus Spelæus.—It is the largest species, and is distinguished from the Polar bear, to which it bears a close resemblance, by its more inclined brow, and the want of the anterior small grinding tooth.
2. 2. U. Arctoides.—The skull smaller than the preceding, and the small anterior grinding tooth also wanting.
3. 3. U. priscus.—Not larger than the brown bear; the cranium the same shape, and provided with the same teeth.

These fossil species occur in limestone caves in Germany and Hungary.

Fossil remains of a species of canis resembling the dog, and of another nearly allied to the common fox, and bones of the common wolf, have been found in post-diluvial and diluvial soils, and in caves in England, Germany, and France.

Fossil remains of a species nearly allied to the common hyæna have been found in caves in limestone in Yorkshire. In these also dung was found, proving that these caverns had been the residence of the hyæna. Remains of the same species occur in caves in Germany. Another species, resembling the H. crocuta, was found in Hanover, in marl, along with bones of the lion and elephant.

One species of this tribe, and nearly resembling the jaguar of South America, has been found in a fossil state in limestone caves in Germany; another species, nearly allied to the tiger, is found in diluvial soil, along with fossil remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, hyæna, and mastodon.

Two species of this genus occur in the German limestone caves. The one is allied to the common pole-cat (Mustella putorius), and the other to the zorro, a pole-cat, native of the Cape of Good Hope. Another species, allied to the ichneumon of Egypt, but nearly double its size, occurs in the gypsum quarries around Paris.

Equus Adamiticus.—Equus Caballus.—Fossil teeth of a species of horse are found in diluvial soil, associated with those of the elephant, rhinoceros, hyæna, mastodon, and tiger. These teeth are larger than those of the present horse, and, to all appearance, belong to a different species, which inhabited the countries where they are now found, as Great Britain, along with elephants, rhinoceroses, hyænas, bears, wolves, &c.

Many fossil animals of this order occur in a fossil state. We shall enumerate the principal of these.

Four species of this genus occur in a fossil state.

1. 1. Bos aurochs or urus.—This species is considered as distinct from the common ox, being much larger. Horns and bones are found in this country, and also on the Continent of Europe. It occurs likewise in alluvial soil in the district of Ohio in North America.
2. 2. Common Ox.—The fossil skulls of this species differ from those of the present existing races in being larger, and the horns having a different direction. They are considered as belonging to the original race of the present domestic ox. The remains are of frequent occurrence in our peat-bogs, also in a similar situation in Ireland.
3. 3. Large Buffalo of Siberia.—Skulls and bones of a large species of ox are found in Siberia, which Cuvier maintains to be different from any of the present species; and as it occurs in the same situation as the elephant and rhinoceros of Siberia, he considers it to have lived at the same early period.
4. 4. Fossil Ox, resembling the Musk Ox of North America.—The bones of this species resemble in many points those of the musk ox, but the marks of difference are so considerable as to show that it is a distinct species. This species has hitherto been found only in Siberia.

The following are the fossil species.

1. 1. C. elephas, or Red-Deer.—Horns and skulls of a deer, agreeing in almost every particular with the common red deer, are occasionally met with in strata of different descriptions. Some of these have been found in the newer secondary formations, in supposed ancient volcanic tufas, and in diluvial strata, with remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, &c. and lastly in our common peat-mosses. The horns and crania found in our peat-bogs are of the same species with our present red deer, but it is not equally certain that those found in the older formations are of the same description.
2. 2. Roe-Deer.—Bones of this species are met with in our peat-mosses, and in beds of shell marl, but never in any of the diluvial strata.
3. 3. Fossil Roe of Orleans.—This species, nearly allied to the roe, but different as a species, is remarkable on account of its geognostical position, its remains occurring in a new secondary limestone, along with bones of the paleotherium. It occurs near Orleans in France.
4. 4. Fossil Fallow-Deer.—This species is found in peat-bogs and in marl pits in Scotland, England,

Organic Re- and in different parts on the Continent of Europe. maine. The antlers are in general larger than those of the present varieties. 5. Fossil Deer of Etampes.—This species appears nearly allied to the rein deer, but much smaller, not exceeding the roe in size. The bones were found near Etampes in France, in a sand, the geognostical relations of which have not been determined. 6. Cervus giganteus, Irish Elk, or Elk of the Island of Man.—This gigantic and magnificent species, now apparently extinct, occurs in a fossil state in Ireland, Isle of Man, England, Germany, and France. The most perfect specimen of the skeleton of this species hitherto met with is that which was found in the Isle of Man, and now preserved in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh. In Plate CIV. we have given an accurate representation of this remarkable specimen. It is six feet high, nine feet long, and in height to the tip of the right horn, nine feet seven and a half inches. It was dug up in the parish of Kirk Balaff, and fortunately secured for the Museum by his Grace the Duke of Atholl. It was imbedded in a loose shell marl, in which were numerous imbedded branches and roots. Over the marl was a bed of sand, above the sand a bed of peat, principally composed of small branches and rotten leaves, and over the peat the common soil of the country.

Order IX.—Multungula.

Several of the largest and most remarkable of the fossil species of quadrupeds belong to this order, and of those the following are the most interesting:

Rhinoceros.

Of this genus four fossil species have been determined. 1. Rh. tichorinus.—In this species the nostrils are separated by a thick osseous plate. It is the largest of the fossil rhinoceri, and is that which is found in England, France, Italy, Germany, Siberia, &c. One specimen was found in the year 1770 with its skin on, imbedded in ice, on the banks of the Wilhoun. It appeared to have had very long hair on its feet, an arrangement, according to Cuvier, probably connected with the climate which it inhabited. 2. Rh. ptorhinus (from ptoros, thin).—In this species the nostrils are not provided with an osseous septum, the bones of the nose are thinner, and the skeleton less massive than in the preceding species. It is found in Italy. 3. Rh. minutus, of a diminutive size.—Found in diluvium in the village of St Laurent, near to the town of Moissac, in the department of the Tarn, and the Garrone. 4. Rh. incisorus, provided with incisor teeth. It is the size of the common rhinoceros, and is found in Germany.

Hippopotamus.

Only one living species of this tribe is known to naturalists, but four fossil species have been de-

termined by Cuvier. 1. H. magnus. It is very nearly allied to the present living species, and is of the same size. It is found in England, France, Germany, &c. 2. Middle-sized Hippopotamus, is smaller than the former, being the size of a hog, and is found in France. 3. Small Hippopotamus.—Found in France; is less than the second species. 4. Least Hippopotamus.—Found in France, and appears to have been the size of the hog of Siam.

Elephant.

Of this interesting tribe of animals two living species, the Asiatic and African, and one fossil species, named Mammoth by the Russians, are known to naturalists. The fossil elephant or mammoth differs from the living species in the following particulars: The alveoli of the tusks are much larger, and the zygomatic arch of a different form. The vacuity between the branches of the jaws at the fore part is wider than in the Asiatic and African species; and the lower jaw, in place of terminating in a kind of pointed apophysis, as in the living species, is rounded off. The grinders of the fossil species differ from those of the living, and the tusks, although of the same magnitude, appear to be more curved than in either the Asiatic or African species. Single bones and teeth, or even perfect skeletons, are found, and one instance is on record of the whole animal being found preserved in ice. This specimen was discovered in the year 1799 in Asiatic Russia. The flesh, skin, and hair, were completely preserved,—even the eyes were entire. It was provided with a long mane, and the body was covered with hair. This hair was of different qualities. There were stiff black bristles, from twelve to fifteen inches long, and these belonged to the mane, tail, and ears. Other bristles were from nine to ten inches long, and of a brown colour; and, besides these, there was a coarse wool, from four to five inches long, of a pale yellow colour. This latter is the wool which lies next the skin in all the inhabitants of cold countries; and hence, Cuvier thinks it probable that the northern fossil elephants, or those of Siberia, Russia, &c. were inhabitants of cold countries.* Its remains have been found in Iceland, Norway, Scotland (in Ayrshire and West Lothian), England, and in many places throughout the Continent onwards to the Arctic Ocean. But they are more abundant in Siberia than in other countries; for Pallas informs us, that there is scarcely a spot from the Don to Kamtschatka where they have not been met with. They also occur in North America, even as far north as Churchill, Hudson's Bay; this latter being the locality of a specimen sent to us from that country; and teeth and bones of a fossil elephant have been found in South America.†

Mastodon.

This remarkable genus of fossil multungular ani-

* The wide distribution of this fossil species, and its occurring amongst with remains of numerous large feline animals, &c. would seem to show, in opposition to the above inference, that the climate of the countries it inhabited had a tropical character.

† There are in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, some vertebrae and leg bones of an elephant of vast size, probably sixteen feet high, found in gravel near Abingdon. Mixed with these were bones of the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, dog, ox, and a species of deer.

Organic Remains. Mastodon, first systematically arranged by Cuvier, was named by him Mastodon (from Μαστός, mamilla, and δύς, dens), in reference to the mamillary or tubercular processes on the grinding teeth. The following are the species at present known to naturalists: 1. Great or Gigantic Mastodon of the Ohio.—This species appears to have been as tall as the elephant, but with longer and thicker limbs; probably provided with a proboscis or trunk, and had tusks like those of the elephant. It appears to have lived on roots and fleshy parts of plants, and hence this kind of food attracted it to soft and marshy places, where its fossil remains are principally found. It is more common in North America than in any other part of the world, although its remains have also been found in Siberia. 2. Mastodon with Narrow Grinders.—It is smaller than the great mastodon, and the grinders are narrower in proportion to their length than in the great mastodon. It is found in Europe, and also in North America. The teeth and bones of this species when of blue colour, from mineral impregnation, are named Animal Turquois. Besides the great mastodon and the species with narrow grinders, remains of four others have been met with, but their characters are not well known. Two of them are from America; the one is named Mastodon of the Cordilleras, and the other Mastodon of Humboldt; the other two are European, and of these one is named Small Mastodon, the other the Tapir-like Mastodon.

Tapir.

The tapir was long held as peculiar to America, but the late discovery of a species in Malacca shows that it also extends to the Old World. The living species are different from those in a fossil state. These latter are found in the same diluvial strata as afford the fossil elephant and mastodon. Two species have been determined. The one, named Gigantic Tapir, about eighteen feet long and twelve feet high, thus equalling in magnitude the great mastodon of America and the great elephant, has been found in France, Italy, and Germany: The other is smaller, but still a formidable animal, and occurs in the same countries.

Lophiodon.

This is a newly discovered fossil genus, nearly allied to the tapir, and named from the eminences on its teeth. Twelve species have been ascertained by Cuvier, and one of them, the largest, is of gigantic dimensions. All of them are found in what is called a fresh water formation, of the same nature with that which contains the remains of the palæotherium and anoplotherium, and hitherto they have been met with only in France and Germany.

Elasmotherium.

Of this newly discovered fossil genus but one species has been found, and that in Siberia. It appears from the few fragments in the Museum at Moscow, and described by Fisher, to be nearly allied to the rhinoceros and horse, and that probably it forms an intermediate tribe between these two. It is the size of the rhinoceros.

Palæotherium.

This genus, like the two preceding, is entirely fossil.

Organic Remains. Its generic character, as given by Cuvier, is as follows: Dentes quadraginta quatuor; scilicet, Primores utrinque sex; laniarii quatuor, acuminati paulo longiores, tecti; molares viginti octo; utrinque septem; quorum superiores quadrati, inferiores bilunati. Nasus productior flexilis. Palmæ et plantæ tridactylæ. In general osteological arrangement it resembles the tapir. Like that tribe, it appears to have had a lengthened snout, or short proboscis, and there can be little doubt that the form of the body was nearly the same as that of the tapir. Ten species are described by Cuvier, and these vary in magnitude from that of the rhinoceros to the hog and sheep, and all of them appear to have been herbivorous. None of the species have been hitherto found in this country, and those described by Cuvier occur in new secondary and diluvial strata in different parts of France, particularly in the vicinity of Paris.

Anoplotherium.

This also is a fossil genus of extinct herbivorous animals. It bears some resemblance to the camel, and the tail is of equal length to the body, if not longer, being at the same time very thick and strong. There are but five species known, and all of these, as far as we know, are found only in the new secondary rocks around Paris. The following is the character of this genus, as given by Cuvier. Dentes quadraginta quatuor, serie continua. Primores utrinque sex; laniarii primoribus similes, ceteris non longiores; molares viginti octo, utrinque septem; anteriores compressi; posteriores superiores quadrati; inferiores bilunati. Palmæ et plantæ tridactylæ, ossibus metacarpi et metatarsi discretis; digitis accessoriis in quibusdam.

Sus.—Hog.

Bones and teeth of the common hog occur in peat-mosses, and similar remains of a dubious species of hog in loam, along with remains of the elephant and rhinoceros.

Order X.—Palmata, Palmated Quadrupeds.

Under this head we include those tribes provided with four paws somewhat resembling fins, and sometimes provided with clawed toes.

1. Phoca, or Seal.—Two fossil species of this genus have been found in France, in the coarse marine limestone of the formation above chalk. One of them appears to have been three times as large as the common seal, and the other of rather smaller dimensions.

2. Trichechus, or Sea Horse, or Walrus.—No well marked fossil remains of this genus have hitherto been met with.

Order XI.—Sirenia.

Lamantin, or Manatus.—Several bones of an unknown species of this genus have been discovered in the coarse marine limestone formation in the department of the Maine and Loire.

Order XII.—Cetacea.—Whale.

Mr Parkinson says that two teeth of the narwal, or Monodon monoceros, were found on the coast of Es-

Organic Re-
main. sex, in the London clay, and that one specimen was found in the limestone of Bath. Fossil remains of dolphins and whales are mentioned as occurring in the new secondary formations of Italy; and we know that a skeleton of the common whale was found near Airthry in Stirlingshire, imbedded in alluvial soil formed by depositions from a river in a marine estuary.

CLASS II.—ORNITHOLITES, OR FOSSIL BIRDS.

Fossil remains of birds are of rare occurrence, and the few specimens hitherto found afford results much less satisfactory than those obtained by the study of the fossil bones of quadrupeds. The best information on this subject is furnished by Cuvier, who has also communicated some obvious characters for assisting in the determination of this class of organic remains. Among others, the following are enumerated:—The foot in birds has a single bone in place of the tarsal and metatarsal bones of quadrupeds; birds, too, form the only class in which the toes all differ as to the number of joints, and in which this number, and the order of the toes which have them, is nevertheless fixed. The great toe has two; the first two, reckoning on the outside, three; the middle five, and the outermost five. The crocodile has the same number of phalanges; but, as these have a tarsal and metatarsal bone, they cannot be confounded. By attention to these and other characters, fossil remains of species of the following genera have been determined, viz. owl, buzzard, starling, ibis, quail, curlew, tern, and pelican. These occur in the limestone and gypsum of the Paris formations, and, it is said, also in an older formation, viz. that into which the Stonesfield slate enters as a member.*

Ornithocephalus.

This genus, which is entirely fossil, is so remarkable in its structure, that naturalists are not agreed as to its place in the system. Some, as Cuvier, refer it to the Amphibia; others, as Blumenbach, to the birds; Collini described it as a fish; while Sömmering arranges it with the Mammalia, and near to the bats. In this state of uncertainty, it is of little consequence where we place it. The skull is very large in proportion to the size of the skeleton, the jaws themselves being longer than the body, and furnished with sharp slightly incurvated teeth. In general form, the head of the O. longirostris resembles that of the curlew tribe, while the brevirostris more nearly resembles the bat, particularly the Vespertilio murinus. The orbits of the eyes are disproportionately large, and hence it is probable that, like the bat, it was a nocturnal animal, while, from the size of its jaws, it is likely that it fed on small flying insects. There are four legs, the hinder ones being of considerable length. There are no tarsal bones, only metatarsal bones and claws. There is a distinct tail. Two species are described by Sömmering, the largest, which is about a foot long, is named O. longirostris; while the other, which is less, is named O. brevirostris. They are re-

presented in Plate CII. Both species occur imbedded in the limestone of Eichstätt. Organic Re-
main.

CLASS III.—AMPHIBIA.

Testudo.

Several species of this tribe have been detected in formations of different descriptions. In England they have been met with in the lias limestone near Bristol, in the oolite of Stonesfield, but most perfect in the London clay, as it is termed, in the vale of Sheppey. Cuvier and other naturalists enumerate different species of land, marine, and fresh water fossil testudines found in France, Germany, and Italy, but all of them apparently extinct species.

Crocodile.

Two species were found in a blue clay (resembling that below chalk) in the neighbourhood of Honfleur and Havre. They cannot be referred to any of the present species. In England, one specimen was obtained from the Purbeck stone, and another was found in the cornbrash rock at Gibraltar, in Oxfordshire. These are distinct from the first French species, but perhaps may agree with the second. Vertebrae, apparently of that species, are found in clay near Weymouth, and in chalk in Sussex.

Mosasaurus of Conybeare.—Lacerta Gigantea of Sömmering.

This tribe contains those fossil amphibia which differ from crocodiles in some important characters, and is considered as an intermediate genus between those animals of the lizard tribe with a short tongue, and whose palate is furnished with teeth, and those where the tongue is long and forked. The gigantic species found in the soft limestone of Maestricht has long excited the attention of naturalists. The length of the skeleton appears to have been nearly 24 feet. The head is a sixth of the whole length of the animal, a proportion approaching very near to that of the crocodile. The tail must have been very strong, and its width at its extremity must have rendered it a most powerful oar, and have enabled the animal to have opposed the most agitated waters.

Fossil remains of an animal of the same kind, found in Bavaria, are described by Sömmering, under the name Lacerta gigantea; all the known parts of which are represented in Plate CV. "When it is considered," says he, "that this gigantic lizard was 24 feet long, we are forcibly reminded of the dragons so much spoken of in fable. At least, the fact that, at one period of the world, there existed animals of the lacerta, or dragon tribe, more than 20 feet in length, is more astonishing than all that is recorded in ancient tradition respecting monsters, which even the wildest fancy did not amplify to such enormous dimensions."

Ichthyosaurus.

This is a marine oviparous animal, closely agreeing in the whole osteology of the head, and sternum,

* Cuvier has lately found in Montmartre an ornitholite, in which the head, neck, wings, tail, thighs, and even the trachea arteria, are well preserved.

with the saurian tribe, except that the bones are usually, as in fish, united by squamous sutures, and approximating to fish in some parts of the structure of its vertebral column, and, in others, being sui generis. From these double analogies the name (fish-like lacerta) is derived. The extremities terminate in four swimming paws, or paddles, composed of a series of flat polygonal bones, greatly exceeding in number, not only the phalanges of quadrupeds, but also the phalangeal cartilages of the fins of fish. Three distinct species, distinguished from each other by their teeth, are found in the lias limestone in England.

Plesiosaurus.

From πλεσιος, approximate to, and σαυρος, a lizard.—This newly discovered fossil animal appears to be intermediate between the crocodile and ichthyosaurus, but whilst the ichthyosaurus recedes from the forms of the lizard family, and approaches those of fishes, the new animal approximates, in these respects, more nearly to the crocodile; the plesiosaurus is, therefore, a marine animal, intermediate in structure between the ichthyosaurus and crocodile. It also occurs imbedded in lias limestone in England.

Megalosaurus.

From μεγας, great, and σαυρος, a lizard.—This is a species nearly allied to the monitor in the mode of its dentition. It is found in the calcareous slate of Stonesfield, in England. The animal must, in some instances, have attained the length of forty feet, and stood eight feet high. The gigantic lizard of Sömmering appears diminutive when contrasted with this stupendous being.

Monitor.

Fossil remains of animals that appear to belong to some of the numerous species comprised by Linnaeus under the name Lacerta monitor, and of Tupinambis by Daudin; animals which frequent marshes and the shallow beds of rivers, occur in bituminous marl slate in Thuringia.

Salamandra.—Salamander.

Scheuchzer's famous Homme fossil, which is considered to be an extinct species of salamander, was found in the limestone of Cœnigen.

Bufo.—Toad.

Fossil remains of this animal occur in the slate limestone of Cœnigen. It is not the common toad, but one nearly allied to the Rana calamita.

Coluber.

Several accounts have been published of the occurrence of fossil serpents in rocks of different formation, but all of them, with exception of the notice of Cuvier, are so loose and unsatisfactory, as to be undeserving of notice. In the notice alluded to, we are informed the bones of a snake, resembling the Coluber natrix, were found in the calcareous conglomerate of Montpellier.

CLASS IV.—FOSSIL FISHES.

Fossil remains of fishes occur in considerable abundance in formations of particular descriptions, but hi-

thero, owing to the difficulties attending the investigation, the determination of the genera and species has been far from satisfactory. Even the attempts that have been made to divide these fossil fishes into fresh and salt water species have generally failed, and the whole geognostical history is in such a state, as to require a complete revision. The fish, in some specimens, are found nearly entire, with the soft parts, and even the scales, preserved by mineralization. In others, all the parts are removed, except the skeleton, and this is more or less perfect, and frequently only the hardest parts remain, such as the palates and teeth. Fossil fishes are found in a variety of geognostic situations in Great Britain, and the following genera are mentioned by authors as occurring in this island: Balistes, Xiphias, Diodon, Anarchichas, Salmo, Esor, Zeus, Murana, Squalus, but of this latter only the teeth, and of the Raia only the bony tongue and palates.

Fossil Vertebrae.—Many figures, and some descriptions, have been published of the fossil vertebrae of fishes. Most of the specimens appear to have belonged to large species of fishes, and some authors have confounded, under this name, the caudal vertebrae of cetacea, which, however, are always easy to determine, as they do not present any traces of the deep and regularly disposed foramina, which present themselves at the surface of the vertebrae of fishes.

Fossil Teeth, or Ichthyodonta.—These are the parts of fishes that occur most frequently in the bowels of the earth, on account of their being less subject to decay. They are divided into two groups, the glossopetra, or more or less flattened teeth, which have belonged to fishes of the shark tribe, &c. and the bufonites, batrachites, &c. or more or less rounded teeth, which have been generally considered as belonging to certain species of sparus or of anchichas. 1. Glossopetra, or Petrified Tongues.—This denomination has its origin from the idea that was formerly entertained of the form of the tongue of serpents, and especially from the notion that the Apostle Paul, on going to Malta, had destroyed all the serpents of that island, and that the fossil teeth of sharks, which occur in great abundance, originated from them, and were nothing else than their tongues converted into stone. 2. Bufonites, or Batrachites.—We find figures, or rather descriptions, by authors under this name, derived from bufo, because it was imagined, we cannot say how, that there were engendered in the head of toads a great number of fossil bodies, of a more or less rounded shape and shining surface, which are evidently nothing else than portions of the teeth of fishes. Many of them are true teeth implanted in the maxillary bones, while others are maxillary plates.

CLASS V.—CRUSTACEA.

1. Fossil Crustacea, or Crabs.

The description of fossil crustacea presents more difficulties than might at first be imagined. The greater number of them are in such a state of mutilation, or so inclosed in the rock, that very often there is nothing to be seen but a part of the upper

Organic Re-
mains.

surface of the body, or of the thorax; while the under surface, composed of the numerous pieces of the plastron, or sternum, giving attachment to feet composed of many articulations, and presenting also the external parts of the mouth, is found completely fixed in the substances which inclose it. The antennæ and feet, besides, are most commonly broken and separated from the body; which may be readily conceived, when we recollect with what facility these latter parts are detached from living crustacea, which lose them when fighting with one another, or even when executing some violent motions. The general want of the antennæ and feet in the fossil specimens, induced Desmarest to restrict the distinctions to characters obtained from the shell or the thorax. On examining the thorax, it results that the various prominences which it exhibits are not irregular and accidental; on the contrary, in all the genera of crustacea, the disposition of these inequalities is constant, and subjected to certain laws. Reflecting, besides, that the crustacea have their principal internal organs situated immediately under the shell or thorax, Desmarest was led to inquire if there existed marked relations between the place occupied by these viscera and the distribution of the internal inequalities of the shell. We have been the more inclined, he remarks, to admit these relations, that it is known that at a certain period of the year all the crustacea, after having lost their old solid envelope, are covered with a delicate skin, which hardens in its turn, and at the end of a few days changes into a crust equally resisting with that which it substitutes; and we might presume, that in the first moments the new skin moulded itself to a certain point upon the internal organs, and that its ossification was subsequently influenced by the motions peculiar to these organs, or by the greater or less development of each of them. It is easy to prove that the relations which we have just mentioned exist; for, if the shell of a crab of the most common species on our coast, the Cancer mænæus, Lin. be removed with care, we observe, fig. 1, Plate CVI. behind the inter-orbital edges, a membranous vesicular stomach, having two large lobes, a a, before, and two small ones, b b, behind, supported in the middle by a slender transverse bone in the form of an arch, h h, and having above, between the two great lobes, and on the middle line, two longitudinal muscles, i i, which are attached on one side to the anterior edge of the shell, and on the other to the transverse bone. If we make a comparative examination of the thorax, which is detached, fig. 2, we perceive on it, l l, the indication of the two anterior lobes of the stomach with a depressed central line, which corresponds with the interval that separates the two muscles mentioned.

Behind the stomach whitish sinuous bodies present themselves, fig. 1, g g, in the form of intestines, and making many circumvolutions. These are preparatory organs subservient to generation, the spermatheca in the males, and the ovaria in the females. They project beneath in different places, but above they occupy the same place in both sexes. With reference to the shell, fig. 2, these organs appear to us to occupy the space, 2, which is circumscribed by sunk lines, and which is seen behind the one corresponding to the stomach.

Still farther back, fig. 1, in a pretty deep hollow, we find the heart, d, which is depressed above, and which occupies its whole extent; this organ is easily distinguished by its pulsations. Each lateral edge of the cavity, ff, in which it is placed, is solid and much elevated, and formed by a vertical septum which proceeds from the sternum to the shell, and which contributes to its solidity, by being fixed between these two surfaces, much in the way of the supporter between the two tables of a violin. This septum also gives support to other transverse partitions, which are equal in number to the separations of the sternal pieces, and in the interval of which are situated the muscles which move the feet. The shell, fig. 2, 3, shows the place of the heart well defined, in the same situation in which this organ is found in the crab when laid bare; and on each of its sides we observe two small sunk lines, which belong to the point of attachment of the two bony partitions between which the heart is situated.

On the right and left of the preparatory organs of generation and of the heart, there are two large spaces, fig. 1, e e, where the branchiæ are arranged and extended on two oblique osseous tables, which shut up above all the compartments in which the muscles of the feet are fixed. These branchiæ are five in number on each side, and each of them presents a double row of small transverse branchial laminae; this point of attachment is externally, and all their extremities are directed toward the line which separates the preparatory organs of generation from the heart. The shell, fig. 2, 5, 5, presents, above these parts, on each side of the body, a bulging space, which, in its extent, agrees perfectly with the place occupied by them beneath it.

Lastly, on both sides of the stomach, and before the branchiæ, we find the liver, fig. 1, b b, which is very large; it is of a soft consistence and yellowish colour, and its surface presents a multitude of small vermiform parts. This liver passes beneath the viscera which we have described, and is prolonged posteriorly, as far as the base of the tail to e, so that it is seen still behind the heart. At this point it has the same aspect and structure as in the anterior part of the body, and is divided into two lobes, which, besides, are in close contact. In the shell, the parts which cover the places where the liver is visible, when it has been removed, fig. 2, 6, 6, and 4, are less bulging than the others, and are distinct on account of this want of protuberance, especially the anterior ones.

The same relations have been found in the Cancer pagurus, and many other species. In some, however, many of the indications were wanting, as in certain Leucosia for example; but in this case, the shell is altogether smooth, and no other furrow indicated divisions which did not correspond with those which we have mentioned.

In some others, the surface of the shell is, on the contrary, marked with an infinity of furrows, and with numerous asperities (Cancer variolosus, and C. incisus); but the principal divisions have always the same arrangement.

We have found it convenient to give the name of Regions to the different parts of the shell which cover the internal organs, and to distinguish these

Organic Re-
mains. regions by particular designations, which bear reference to the relations existing between them and the organs, thus:

The gastric region (région stomacale), or that which covers the stomach, is median, or anterior, fig. 2, 1.1.

The genital region is median, and situated immediately behind the gastric, 2.2.

The cardiac region (région cardiale) is median, and placed behind the genital, 3.

The hepatic regions are three in number; two anterior, situated one on each side of the gastric, and before the branchial, 6.6; a posterior median, placed between the cardiac and the posterior edge of the shell, 4.

The branchial regions, two in number, one on each side, are placed between the cardiac and genital regions on one hand, and the lateral edges of the shell on the other, 5.5.

Desmarest describes, according to the plan just detailed, twenty genera, and a considerable number of species from different parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Many species occur in Great Britain, but principally in England, where they appear in the chalk formation, and also in the plastic clay of Sheppey.

In Plate CVI. we have given, from Brongniart, representations of a Limulus and of a Cancer, both of them genera of the Crustacea.

2. Trilobites.

Upwards of an hundred years ago, there was found in England, near to Dudley, in beds of limestone, organic bodies of a very singular form, and different from all the petrifications which had been previously seen, as well as from every organized body known to exist at the surface of the earth. There was no hesitation, however, in referring them to the animal kingdom; but for a long time it could not be determined to what class they belonged; and Linnaeus himself, on placing them with the insects, found their form to be so very different from that of the animals of this class, that he gave to the particular species which he has described the name of Entomolithus paradoxus.

Notwithstanding the considerable differences which exist between many of the bodies to which the name of Entomolites was at first given, and afterwards that of Trilobites, we nevertheless discover between them points of resemblance sufficient to characterize a very natural family.

Their body, as in the greater number of insects and in some crustacea, may be divided transversely into three principal parts. But the principal general characteristic, and what essentially distinguishes them from all known animals, is their longitudinal division into three parts, or lobes, by two deep furrows parallel to the axis of the body; this remarkable structure has excited the attention of all observers. At first the tails were only observed, and from their being considered as shells, the name of Concha triloba was given them. Afterwards this designation was transferred to the entire animals, by naming them Trilobites, a denomination first given by Knorr, and afterwards employed in a systematic manner by Brunnich and Blumenbach.

Organic Re-
mains. The Trilobites appear to form a distinct family in the great division of animals named articulated, which may be included in the class Crustacea. It exhibits the following characters:

Their body, as Brongniart remarks, is divided into three parts, which are more or less distinct; the anterior part, which is named the scutum (bouclier), (the head, Walch, &c.), appears to present the union of what, in insects, is generally called the head and thorax; the middle part of the body, which is divided by very distinct transverse articulations, may be considered as the abdomen, or trunk of Walch, Brunnich, Wahlenberg, or the union of the belly and back; the posterior part, often distinctly separated from the middle division, though sometimes nearly blended with it, and which is divided by less distinct articulations, or transverse folds, may be called the post-abdomen. The name of tail has been universally applied to it by naturalists, from its analogy with the part in crustacea, to which the same name is given with equal impropriety; it is traversed by the intestinal canal, but as there is, besides this part, a true tail, it would be improper to allow the name to remain. At the extremity of this prolongation of the abdomen, we find, in many species, an elongated appendage of a coriaceous, or crustaceous nature, either without articulations, as in the limula, or composed of several plates arranged in the form of a fan, as in the lobsters; this appendicular part, which does not contain any viscus, should bear the name of tail.

These two abdomens are divided longitudinally in all the trilobites by two deep grooves, into three longitudinal parts, or lobes, of unequal breadth; the middle one is generally the narrowest and the most distinctly articulated; the lateral ones, which are broader, even sometimes extend under the form of nearly membranous expansions, which appear to be supported by hard and costiform sides, or appendages, proceeding from the abdomen and the post-abdomen. We shall follow M. Audouin in giving the name of sides (or ilia, or latera) (flanks) to these lobes, or lateral parts: we have said that this forms the essential character of the trilobites; it is never wanting in any species, and does not occur so distinctly marked in any known living animal.

The scutum (bouclier) is always divided into three more or less distinct parts; a middle one, which, by Walch, is named the frons (front), and two lateral ones which may retain the name of checks (joues), employed by the same author.

We observe upon this frons, or middle part of the scutum, two or more tubercles; and, often upon the two lateral parts, two other projecting tubercles very different from the first, which have been compared to eyes.

The similarity of these parts, in regard to position, general form, and reticular structure, to the reticulated eyes of insects, and especially of the crustacea, scarcely leaves any doubt regarding the analogy which may be established between these tubercles and eyes. The articulations of the abdomen and post-abdomen are sometimes prolonged laterally into projecting appendages.

Sometimes the tail does not exist at all, sometimes

Organic Remains. Re-it is formed of a membrane which terminates in a point, or with a crustaceous subulate appendage.

Lastly, no naturalists have ever seen any thing which could be compared to antennæ or feet.

The trilobites are all marine animals; their constant association in the same rocks with shells and other marine productions can leave no doubt on this point. It would appear that they have been capable of multiplying prodigiously, judging from the manner in which certain formations are crowded with them, inasmuch that these rocks appear to be entirely composed of them.

The following are the generic names and characters given to these fossil animals by Desmarest:—

Genus I.—CALYMENE. (That is, obscure or hid.)

Body, contractile, nearly semicylindrical.

Scutum, having several tubercles or folds, two reticulated oculiform tubercles.

Abdomen and post-abdomen, entire at the margin, the abdomen divided into twelve or fourteen joints.

Point of the tail prolonged.

C. Blumenbachii. Dudley Fossil. Auct.

Clypeo rotundato, tuberculis sex distinctis in fronte; oculis in genis eminentissimis; corpora tuberculata.

Abundant at Dudley in Worcestershire. Plate CVI. Three other species are described by Brongniart, and two of these are figured in Plate CVI.

Genus II.—ASAPHUS. (That is, difficult to determine.)

Body broad and pretty flat; middle lobe projecting, and very distinct.

Sides, or lateral lobes, each twice the breadth of the middle lobe.

Submembranous expansions extending the arches of the lateral lobes.

Scutum semicircular, with two reticulated oculiform tubercles.

Abdomen divided into eight or twelve joints.

Corpore ovato, antice obtuso: pars caudæ membranacea ad marginem longitudinaliter striata. Plate CVI.

Is one of the species found in Wales. Four other species described by Brongniart, and one of these the A. Cornigerus, is figured in Plate CVI.

Genus III.—OGYGIA. (That is, of the greatest antiquity.)

Body much depressed, in the form of an elongated ellipse, not contractile.

Scutum marginate; a shallow longitudinal groove proceeding from its anterior extremity.

No other tubercles than the oculiform ones.

Oculiform protuberances little protruded, not reticulated; posterior angles of the scutum prolonged into a point.

Longitudinal lobes little protruded.

Abdomen with eight articulations.

Two species of this genus, but none of them British, described by Brongniart.

Genus IV.—PARADOXIDES.

Body depressed, not contractile.

Sides much broader than the middle lobe.

Scutum nearly semicircular; three oblique wrinkles on the middle lobe.

No oculiform tubercles.

Abdomen with twelve articulations.

Arches of the abdominal and post-abdominal sides more or less prolonged beyond the membrane which sustains them.

Five species, no British, described; and one of these, the P. spinulosus, is figured in Plate CVI. The fossils described by Linnæus under the name Entomolithus paradoxus belong to this genus.

Genus V.—AGNOSTUS. (That is to say, unknown.)

Body ellipsoidal, semicylindrical.

Scutum and sides with the edges a little elevated.

Middle lobe presenting only two transverse divisions, each of a single piece.

Two glandular tubercles at the anterior part of the body.

Of this genus but one species, and that found in Sweden.

CLASS VI.—INSECTA.

From their perishable nature, the animals of this class rarely occur in a fossil state; and when they do appear, they are generally very imperfect. Supposed larvæ of the genera Libellula and Ephemera occur in the marl slate of Gneingen and Pappenheim; and the elytra of coleopterous insects in the Stonesfield slate. Insects well preserved, and of extinct species, occur in amber. Schweigger describes a piece of amber containing a perfect scorpion, but different from the common species of that genus. The ants inclosed in amber appear to be the same with the present species; so that we have the same arrangement in this substance as in rock formations, viz. known and unknown species together.

CLASS VII.—MOLLUSCA.

FOSSIL SHELLS.

Fossil shells are amongst the most abundant of the organic remains met with in the strata of which our globe is composed. They exhibit not only great variety in form, but also in magnitude, having a range from the colossal ammonite, several feet in diameter, to the microscopic nautili, and other shells of the same description. They are divided into univalve, or those composed of one valve or piece, bivalve, with two valves, and multivalve, with more than two valves.

1. Univalve Fossil Shells.

These univalve shells are again divided into those with one chamber, termed unilocular, as the common patella or limpet; and those with several chambers, named multilocular, as the nautilus. Upwards

of seventy genera of unilocular shells occur in a fossil state, and many of these include numerous species. The multilocular genera are not so numerous, their number amounting to about twenty-two, but their internal structure is so interesting as to deserve from us some notice. The nautilus, which is one of the best known of these, like all the other genera of this division, has its shell formed into a number of chambers, divided by a perforated septum. The animal which inhabits it, and which is of the sepia or cuttle-fish tribe, resides in the largest and last formed chamber; an elastic tube (siphunculus) proceeds from the animal, and passes through the perforation in the septa and the different chambers, and terminates in the first or smallest. It is conjectured that part of the shell is enveloped by the animal, independent of the connection it has with it by means of the siphunculus. The tube is membranous, and it is probable that it is dilatable and compressible, so as to be capable of rendering the animal buoyant or otherwise at pleasure, as the air-bladder does in fishes. The cells or chambers seem to answer no other purpose than that of containing air, as the animal leaves the last formed one in succession as it forms a new one, keeping up with them no other communication than what is preserved by the siphunculus. Thus, as the animal increases in size and occupies a new chamber, the last in order, and, in the same way, all the preceding ones, are left empty, so that the gravity of the shell is not much more than that of the water of the sea, and hence the addition of a small portion of air, by means of the siphunculus, may render it buoyant, and the expansion of the air, and probably the addition of water, may cause it to sink. Of these nautili some are known to live in the present waters of the globe, but are of rare occurrence, while the fossil species are numerous and abundant. Hence has arisen a question as to the cause of the great disproportion between the number of fossil and of recent shells of this tribe. Some are of opinion that the fossil genera have become extinct, while others maintain that they still live at the bottom of the sea, out of the reach of our observation. But the structure of the shell, as already explained, proves that so far from their inhabitants having been destined to live always at the bottom of the sea, they possess the power of rising up to and remaining at the surface of the sea. Supposing them still to live, they would occasionally, as the present nautilus, be seen at the surface; but not a single instance being known of a shell of these genera having been thus seen, their existence may be reasonably doubted.—(Parkinson's Introduction.)

Ammonites.—This is another tribe of multilocular fossil shells, remarkable not only for its beauty and variety, but also on account of its vast abundance and wide distribution in the mineral kingdom. They are the petrified serpents of the vulgar; by some considered as the original type of the volutes of architecture, and have also an interesting mythological meaning. Three hundred different species have been described.

Nummulites.—Another of the concamerated fossil genera, of a discoidal form, and which has been confounded with seeds. It is so very abundant, that some-

times whole tracks of country are principally composed of it. The pyramids of Egypt are partly built of a limestone almost entirely made up of nummulites. Our limits will not allow of any details in regard to the Orthoceratite, Belemnite, Baculite, and other genera of this remarkable division, which, in general character and economy, agree with the nautilus, already particularly noticed.

2. Bivalve and Multivalve Fossil Shells.

The bivalve fossil shells are so numerous and varied in their forms, that we must refer for descriptions of them to the numerous treatises and works on fossil conchology. The multivalves are of comparatively rare occurrence.

CLASS VIII.—RADIARIA.

Echinus, or Sea Urchin Family.

This extensive division of the echinodermata exhibits great variety in form, and although not met with in the older secondary rocks, is abundant in several of the newer. Some of the species resemble those at present met with in our seas, but none of them, as far as we know, are identical with the recent ones.

Asterias, or Sea Star Family.

The animals of this series, from the delicacy and frailness of their structure, speedily decay, and hence are rarely met with in a fossil state.

Crinoidea, or Encrinite Family.

The animals of this order appear, from their internal structure and external form, to belong to a series allied to the Radiaria, and therefore cannot be arranged with the simple class of polypi. They abound in many strata, and in vast abundance, but very rarely in a living state,—a fact which shows the great difference between the animal world of the former and present period. Blumenbach first conjectured their affinity to the Radiaria; Schweigger describes them as pediculated and fixed asteriæ; and Miller, in his late excellent work on the Crinoidea, has removed every doubt as to their true place in the system. All the Entrochites and Encrinites of authors belong to this family.

CLASS IX.—POLYPI.

Under this head we include all the different kinds of simple animals named polypi, with their coverings, termed polyparia. All the corals popularly so called are polyparia of this class, and many of these occur in a fossil state, as will appear from the following enumeration:—Astrea, some species fossil. Porites, none fossil. Madrepora, few fossil. Explanaria, none fossil. Hydnophora, some fossil. Meandrina, some fossil. Agaricia, some fossil. Pavonia, none fossil. Fungia, some fossil. Cyclolites, entirely fossil. Turbinolia, entirely fossil. Caryophyllia, several fossil. Favosites, a fossil genus. Orbulites, some fossil. Alveolites, nearly all fossil. Flustra and Echura, sometimes fossil. Gorgonia and Antipathes, not fossil. Corallina, not fossil. Corallium, rarely fossil.

The most simple of all the animal productions

Organic Re-hitherto found in a fossil state are the alcyoniums
mains. and sponges.

The alcyonia in the fresh state are nearly as soft as sponge, but have stellular openings on the surface, through which polypi project. They occur sometimes fossil, and frequently in flint.

Sponges are composed of horny fibres connected together by means of an animal jelly, but hitherto no distinct polypi have been detected in them. They occur in a fossil state, and are abundant in the flint of the chalk formation, and in the chalk itself.

II. FOSSIL REMAINS OF PLANTS.

Casts and Impressions of Trees and Ferns.

Vegetable remains occur in great abundance, and in considerable variety, in different formations, particularly in the coal formation. In some coal mines they appear well preserved, and thus afford many facilities for the determination of their characters; whilst in others they are so much changed, as to render it nearly impossible to make out the classes and orders to which they belong. In Plates CVII. CVIII. we have given representations of several casts and impressions of the fossil vegetables met with in our coal fields, partly from original drawings, partly from the plates of Sternberg.

1. Lepidodendron.—Stem squamous, the scales in perfect specimens, with attached leaves, which are arranged in a spiral manner around the stem. Specimens of four species are represented by fig. 1, 2, 3, Plate CVII., and fig. 7, Plate CVIII., and all of them from the coal formation of the river district of the Forth. Mr Allan, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has given a figure of a Lepidodendron, with several circular flowers.

2. Variolaria.—Stem scutellar, or verrucose, and the centre of the scutæ affording a point of attachment to leaves. This tribe bears some resemblance to arborescent Euphorbia, and to some Cacti. In Plate CVIII., fig. 8, is a drawing of the Variolaria ficoides, with attached leaves. Fig. 4, Plate CVII., is another specimen without leaves, and both from our neighbouring coal fields.

3. Calamites, so named from their general resemblance to the calamites of the ancients. One species is represented by fig. 5, Plate CVII. Fig. 9, Plate CVIII., is another figure of the same genus, but probably a different species.

4. Syringodendron.—Of this tribe, one species is figured, fig. 6, Plate CVII.

5. Rhytidolepis.—Is so named on account of the thick wrinkles with which the back is marked. In coal formation, England. Fig. 7, Plate CVII.

6. Flabellaria.—A tribe which resembles the palms, fig. 8, Plate CVII., F. borassifolia, from the coal formation near Burntisland.

7. Noeggerathia.—Fig. 3, Plate CVIII. A representation of one of the species of this fossil genus.

8. Rotularia.—So named from its resemblance in Organic Re-
mains. form to a wheel. Appears to be a cryptogamous plant, probably peculiar to marshy places or water and forms a particular genus. Fig. 6, Plate CVIII., is one of the species from the coal formation.

9. Schlotheimia.—Stem jointed, contracted at the joints, leaves verticillated. Fig. 1, Plate CVIII., S. tenuifolia; leaves sessile, awl-shaped, and rigid. Is the hippuris of some authors. From the coal formation near Burntisland.

10. Annularia.—Leaves disposed in a verticillate manner, and inserted in a ring which surrounds the stem. Fig. 2, Plate CVIII., is A. spinulosa from the coal formation.

11. Osmunda gigantea.—Fig. 5, Plate CVIII. Occurs in the bituminous shale of the coal formation near Burntisland. The species figured differs from any of the recent species. It is indeed very difficult, in general, to form an opinion as to the ferns found in rocks; for the leaves of ferns of the present creation, even of different genera, are so alike, that they are easily confounded, when we have not an opportunity of examining their seeds, and particularly when we do not attend to the nicer distinctions known to the experienced botanist. How, then, can we determine in a satisfactory manner the impressions in rocks where the seeds are so rarely visible, and the parts so often altered? Smith, Brown, Link, and other eminent botanists, on examining these impressions in slate clay and bituminous shale, thought some resembled a Pteris, another a Dicksonia, others Polypodium, Adiantum, Osmunda; and in all these cases, the individuals they most resembled were natives of tropical climates,—but not a single instance occurred of an impression of any known and recent species.*

2. Leaves of Plants.

Impressions of leaves occur in rocks of different descriptions. Fig. 4, Plate CVIII., is the representation of a leaf of a tree, intermediate between a Platanus and Lyriodendrum. Some impressions resemble Spiraea, others the Tilia Europea, Betula alnus, Betula fruticosa, Salix caprea, Acer pseudo-platanus, Populus nigra, Acer campestre, Rhamnus frangula, Salix myrsinites. These impressions are found in some of the rocks of the Paris formation. Leaves are also sometimes found in amber, and some are of opinion that these belong to the Aloexylon agallachum, and the amber itself is conjectured to be an exudation from that tree.

3. Impressions of Flowers.

Beautiful specimens of aster-like flowers are sometimes met with in a lepidodendrous tree in the coal formation near to Edinburgh; and one of these, as already mentioned, has been figured in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Schlotheim describes the impressions of a flower

* Schlotheim has lately published descriptions and figures of impressions of sea plants, fuci, found in a coal formation connected with a limestone which rests upon the new red sandstone formation. Similar impressions occur in the coal field near Burntisland.

of a ranunculus from a metalliferous bed near Frankenberg in Hussia; also impressions of an aquatic Ranunculus or Trollius in the limestone of Oeningen. In Blumenbach's Spec. Arch. Tellur. and in Karg's Essays, there are observations on this subject.

4. Fossil Seeds and Fruits.

Fossil seeds and fruits of plants occur in different formations, but usually in such a state as renders it nearly impossible to determine the tribes to which they belong. Faujas St Fond found fossil fruits in the brown coal of Liblar, which, he said, bore a strong resemblance to areca nuts; an opinion in which he was not supported by the after examinations of Jussieu, Desfontaines, Lamarck, and Thouin. They probably belong to some palm. The fossil seeds that occur in bituminous wood, in which amber also is found, cannot be referred to any known plants. In the Island of Sheppey there are accumulations of seeds, some of which are like those of the palm, others the chesnut, cocoa, but none identical with any of these.

5. Plants in Calcedony, Siliceous Sinter, and Calc-Tuff.

The early observations of Daubenton, and the later ingenious investigations of Dr Macculloch, seem to prove the existence of various cryptogamic plants in calcedony, particularly in that variety named mocha stone. The included vegetables are referred to the tribes Jungermannia and Hypnum of botanists. The siliceous sinter of Iceland, sometimes confounded with calcedony, we find also to contain occasionally plants of different descriptions. Calc-tuff, in some districts, as at Burgtonna, contains well preserved specimens of the Chara vulgaris, and Ch. hispida. Convolvæ have also been found in a preserved state in compact calc-tuff. Some of the gyrogonites of Lamarck, found in calc-tuff, are certainly seeds of the chara tribe.

6. Petrified Woods.

Trunks, branches, and roots of trees occur in rocks of different kinds, or even loose, more or less impregnated or petrified with mineral matter. The structure and external form are sometimes well preserved, and in other cases both are nearly obliterated. Some of these, belonging to the palm tribe, are therefore monocotyledonous; others, and the greater number, present concentric rings and other internal arrangements which characterise dicotyledonous trees. Hitherto no accurate descriptions have been published of the internal structure of these petrifications, and consequently the names given to them are not to be depended on. Thus it is said that oak, birch, pine, box, elm, willow, hazel, ash, occur petrified in the form of wood-stone and wood-opal; but our own experience does not go to confirm these determinations.

II.—STATE OR CONDITION OF FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS.

Fossil organic remains occur either unchanged,

or more or less altered from their original state or Organic Remains. condition, by the removal of some of their constituent parts, their bituminisation, or owing to impregnation with various mineral substances. Shells, bones, teeth, vegetables, of various descriptions, in some alluvial soils, are scarcely at all altered, and remains of quadrupeds have been found well preserved in ice in polar countries; and in peat-mosses, human bodies remain uncorrupted for a long series of years. Shells are sometimes found in a nearly unaltered state in solid rocks, as limestone. The beautiful fire marble of Carinthia contains unaltered shells of ammonite, with their pearly lustre, and rich tints of the most beautiful colours. Shells and bones occur in other alluvial strata, more or less bleached, being dry and fragile, owing to the removal of a portion of their animal matter. In fossil fishes, sometimes not only the bones, but also the soft parts, and even the scales, occur more or less perfectly preserved. Fossil vegetables occur, either nearly unaltered, or more or less bituminised or carbonised, in alluvial strata; also in the brown-coal formation, and in some sandstones. In other cases, the animals or vegetables have disappeared, and only their casts, or impressions, remain to attest their former presence. This change is more frequent with vegetables than animals. In particular situations, the organic body, whether plant or animal, is simply coated, or incrustated, with the mineral matter, and but slightly impregnated with it. The incrusting matter is most frequently calc-tuff and calc-sinter, less frequently volcanic tuff. But the most durable state of fossil organic remains is the petrified, when they are more or less completely impregnated with mineral matter.

I. PETRIFIED VEGETABLES.

Wood Petrified with Hornstone.—Trunks, branches, and roots of trees and shrubs are sometimes impregnated with hornstone, forming what is called wood-stone, or ligneous hornstone, and this is one of the most frequent of the petrified woods. The wood appears, in some cases, to have been in a rotten state when petrified, and such varieties appear light coloured and shivery; in other cases, it appears first to have been bituminised, so that it is both bituminous and siliceous together, in which case it is of a dark brown or black colour, and of a more compact texture. In our Cabinet, we have several specimens to show the combination of siliceous matter and bituminous wood in its different stages of bituminisation. Lastly, in other cases, the wood appears to have undergone no change, and then, the wood, or at least part of the ligneous matter, remains in the petrification, while, in others, the whole has disappeared, leaving nothing but its form behind. It is probable, however, that many wood-stones, in collections, are not real petrifications, but portions of trees in which a great secretion of silica has taken place. In the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, there is a large mass of wood-stone, said to have been obtained from the centre of the trunk of a teak tree, which may be viewed as a portion of the wood highly im-

Organic Re-pregnated with silica by the living powers of the
mains. tree. *

2. Calcedonic Wood and Jasper Wood.—In some cases the wood is petrified with calcedony, and in others with jasper; the first has usually a yellowish white colour, and resembles decayed wood, while the latter exhibits great variety of colours. In some rare varieties of Heliotrope a fibrous and probably vegetable structure occurs.

3. Opaline Wood.—Wood, when impregnated with opal, forms the most beautiful variety of petrified wood. It is distinguished from the others by resinous lustre, conchoidal fracture, inferior hardness, and lower specific gravity. Hungary is the chief country of this beautiful fossil remain.

4. Calcareous Wood.—Wood is sometimes more or less completely petrified with carbonate of lime, in the form of calcareous spar or of limestone. In some cases the wood appears to have been bituminous before petrification, in others rotten, and in some not altered. It occurs in alluvial soil and in various limestones in different parts of England.

5. Aluminous Wood.—Some woods are petrified with aluminous matter, but generally along with it there is a considerable intermixture of iron pyrites.

6. Wood petrified with Iron Pyrites.—Fossil wood of this description soon decays on exposure to the influence of the weather. Seeds are sometimes in this state, as is the case in the Island of Sheppey.

7. Wood and other Parts of Trees and Plants petrified with Carbonate and Hydrocarbonate of Iron.—Wood and fossil vegetables in this state are not of rare occurrence, and are the most indestructible of the woods impregnated with ores.

8. Wood impregnated with Copper Pyrites.—This variety of mineralized wood generally contains, besides pyrites, blue and green malachite, which stains it with their beautiful colours.

9. Wood impregnated with Galena or Lead-Glance.—Some specimens of this description occur in old mines, thus proving the comparative newness of their formation, while others of a more ancient date occur in brown coal.

2. PETRIFIED ANIMAL REMAINS.

The remains of quadrupeds, birds, and amphibious animals are seldom impregnated with mineral matter, and when this takes place, it is generally their harder parts which are petrified. The horns of deer are sometimes impregnated with clay iron ore, and bones of quadrupeds occur penetrated with lead-glance and iron pyrites, and have superimposed crystals of the same minerals. The fossil fishes in the bituminous marl slate of Thuringia are often entirely bituminised, and, according to Werner, the bituminous impregnation of the

slate is derived from these fishes. Sometimes the Organic Re-
mains. fishes in the marl slate are also impregnated with copper pyrites, and also with lead-glance and iron pyrites. Crustaceous animals are petrified with calcareous spar, or with iron pyrites. The Ecchini, or Sea Urchins, are petrified with calcareous spar, with flint, and seldom with iron pyrites. The various tribes of shells and corals are often petrified with calcareous spar, less frequently with clay iron ore, and rarely with flint or calcedony, and with sulphur. And lastly, the Alcyonia and Sponges, the lowest of the animal world met with in a fossil state, are usually penetrated or impregnated with flint.

III.—GEOGNOSTICAL SITUATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS.

When fossil organic remains first engaged the particular attention of naturalists, it was believed that they were irregularly distributed throughout the different formations of which the crust of the earth is composed, and that the whole had been deposited from the waters of the Deluge. It was soon, however, ascertained, that some rock formations never contain petrifications; a fact which gave rise to the opinion, that fossil organic remains were confined to one set of rocks, the secondary, in which they were jumbled together in an irregular manner, while they were entirely wanting in the formations of the primitive class. The more accurate investigations of geologists, particularly those of the geognostical school of Werner, not only proved the insufficiency of former views, but gave a new and interesting character to the whole subject. It was shown by these inquiries, 1. That petrifications, or fossil organic remains, do not occur in primitive rocks, but first appear in rocks of the second, or Transition class. 2. That these organic remains are, in general, more altered, or mineralised, in the older than in the newer formations; so that they appear much changed in transition rocks, and scarcely at all altered in the rocks of the newest, or alluvial class. 3. That these remains are so arranged in the bowels of the earth, that those of the more simple animals and plants appear first, or in the oldest rocks; that in rocks of a middle age, the remains are of animals higher in the zoological and botanical scales; and that in the newest rocks, the fossil organic remains are of the more perfect animals, even reaching to man.† 4. That the fossil organic remains in transition, secondary, and diluvial formations, are in general different from those of the present creation; but that, in the post-diluvial formations, the remains are of recent species of animals and vegetables. 5. And lastly, that although these fossil animals and plants, in general, differ from those of the present world, we observe

* Workmen remark that mahogany, plane tree, and other woods, are sometimes harder than usual; and also, that they occasionally contain grains of sand. The hardness may be partly owing to secreted silica, and the sand would appear to be silica, secreted by the powers of the plant, therefore resembling that in the teak wood, the rush, and the bamboo.

† The terrestrial rock formations, or those which have been formed on the land, are still so imperfectly known, that, in some cases, it is not easy to determine their age in relation to those which have originated under the water of the ocean.

that they approach nearer and nearer, in appearance, to those of the recent tribes the newer the formation in which they are contained; so that, as already mentioned, in the newest formations there is an absolute identity of character, proving that the fossil species are the same as those of the present creation. A full statement of all the facts on this very interesting subject would extend this article much beyond the limits prescribed; and, therefore, we must rest satisfied with the following account of the distribution of petrifications as they occur in different rock formations, particularly as observed in Great Britain.

Primitive rocks, as already mentioned, contain no organic remains, and, therefore, are supposed to have been formed before animals and vegetables were called into existence. They first appear in the rocks of the second great class or the Transition.

I. FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS IN TRANSITION ROCKS.

The rocks of this class which afford organic remains are limestone, greywacke, and clay slate; but of these limestone is that which affords the greatest number and variety. All the remains, nearly, are of animals, and of tribes occupying a comparatively low rank in the zoological scale; none of them ranging higher than the class Mollusca; and most of the species, and some of the genera, occur only in the transition series, disappearing entirely in the rocks of the succeeding formations.

The following tribes of corals are met with, and generally in the limestone, Caryophyllia, Tubipora, Favosites, Astrea, Madrepora, and Stylina. The last mentioned genus is, with the exception of one recent species found in the South Sea, entirely fossil, and confined to the transition class. This is one of many instances, of the occurrence of fossil animals along with those of the earliest creation, no traces of which have been seen in any of the subsequent formations, but which are now found in a living state in the seas of the opposite hemisphere. No fossil Echini, or Asteriæ, occur in the rocks of this class, but several tribes of the nearly allied family Crinoidea are met with, such as the Cyathocrinites from Shropshire; Platicrinites in limestone, Dudley; and Rhodocrinites, also at Dudley. The Trilobite tribe, so nearly allied to the Crustacea, occurs abundantly in the rocks of this class, but principally in the limestone. When the crustacea begin to appear in the newer formations, the trilobites have disappeared, if not altogether, at least almost so. Fossil shells occur in greater numbers and variety than is generally imagined. Of these the multilocular univalves are the most characteristic in a geognostical sense, and the following are the genera met with, viz. Ammonites, Orthoceratites, Nautilites, and Conularia. Unilocular univalves are Euomphalus, Helecites, Patellites, Buccinites, and Bucardites. Bivalves are Anomites, Terebratulites, and Pentamerus. The vegetable remains are of rare occurrence, and their peculiar cha-

acters have not been determined. The corals, or-
thoceratites, and trilobites are the most charac-
teristic petrifications of this class.

II. FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS IN SECONDARY ROCKS.

1. First Sandstone, or Old Red Sandstone.

Occasionally, remains of plants, shells, and corals, occur in this formation, but hitherto they have not been determined with the requisite accuracy.*

2. First Secondary Limestone, or Mountain Limestone.

This formation, which, in a general view, rests upon old red sandstone, and sometimes alternates with the rocks of the coal formation, is more abundant in petrifications than the transition rocks. Of the tribe of corals, it contains species of the genera Caryophyllia, Turbinolia, and Flustra: of the unilocular univalve shells, Euomphalus, Planorbis, and Cirrus: multilocular univalve, Orthoceratites, Nautilites, Ammonites, Ellipsolites, Nautilipsolites, Conularia, and Amplexus. Of the bivalve genera, the following are met with, viz. Productus, Pentamerus, Spirifer, Terebratulites, Gryphites, and Cardites. It is worthy of remark, that many of the univalves and some of the bivalves that occur in this and the transition limestone, possess that particular kind of structure, rarely met with in the shells of the present creation, which enabled their inhabitants to rise and sink in the water. The curious structure of Spirifer, and the multilocular arrangement of Productus, Pentamerus, Amplexus, and Conularia, as Mr Parkinson remarks, imparted, in all probability, to their inhabitants, a power of a similar kind. Sowerby mentions a shell resembling the Helix found in mountain limestone; but Parkinson is of opinion, that it belonged to a distinct genus, and probably possessing the same power as janthina (formerly considered as a helix), that of sinking and rising in the water. Hitherto, no remains of Asteriæ or Echini have been met with in this formation, but the platy-crinites of the Crinoid family, is not unfrequent. No true crustacea occur, but several members of the family Trilobites are found in the mountain limestone of England and Ireland. Some obscure traces of fossil fishes are rarely met with. As examples of these may be mentioned the supposed spinous radii of a Balistes, and imperfect remains of what resembled the snout of the Xiphias, or sword-fish.

3. Coal Formation.

This formation is principally remarkable on account of the numerous fossil remains of plants which it affords. Several of the principal tribes are represented in the plates attached to this article. All the species, and most of the genera belong to plants different from those of the present creation; many of them, and those the predominating ones, resemble cacti, palms, reeds, and ferns; thus intimating the general state of the earth's surface when they flourished.

* The petrified woods in old red sandstone are often in the state of woodstone.

Organic Re-
mains. The bituminous shale and slate clay sometimes contain Orthoceratites, Terebratulites, Ammonites, and some species of the genera Lingula and Unio.

4. Second Secondary Limestone, or Magnesian Limestone.

The fossil organic remains of the magnesian limestone, which, in the general succession, rests immediately upon the coal formation, have not hitherto been much studied. Some Flustra and Crinoidæ are mentioned as occurring in it; and also species of the genera Donax, Arca, Anomia, and Unio; and lastly, remains of a fish, of the genus Chælodon, were found imbedded in this formation near to Sunderland.

The limestones named Bituminous Marl Slate and Zechstein, are associated with this magnesian limestone, and, therefore, are considered as belonging to the same general formation. The bituminous marl slate often forms the lower part of the series of magnesian limestone, and contains numerous petrified fishes; which some naturalists are inclined to consider as principally fresh water species; a few only appearing to them to have been inhabitants of the ocean. In this limestone also there occur remains of an animal of the genus Monitor, of the class Amphibia; but petrifications of vegetables are rarely met with. We sometimes meet with branches of plants analogous to the Lycopodium, and more rarely of ferns, and of plants allied to the genus Phalaris. Amongst these fresh water productions, various remains of marine animals, such as Gryphites, Trilobites, and Crinoidæ, make their appearance.

The Zechstein is particularly distinguished by the great abundance of the Gryphites aculeatus it contains; ferns and Lycopodiums resembling those of the coal formation; and it is said, also remains of Lepidodendrous plants are found in it.

5. Second Sandstone, or New Red Sandstone Formation.

Very few organic remains have hitherto been found in this formation, and those met with are fossil trees and shells.

6. Third Secondary Limestone, including the Lias, and Oolite.

a. Lias Limestone.

This limestone rests on the new red sandstone. It abounds in fossil organic remains, of which the following list contains several of the more interesting:

Corals are of rare occurrence; species of one tribe only, the Turbinolia, having been met with. Several species of the genus Pentacrinite are met with; and also remains, more or less perfect, of Echini. The fossil shells in this rock differ considerably from those of the mountain limestone and other preceding formations; only a few species of some of the multilocular univalves, as Ammonites, Nautilites, and Belemnites, and of the Terebratulas, being here discoverable. The fossil shells found in this formation chiefly consist of bivalves of the genera Ostrea, Gryphæa, Plagiostoma, Plicatula, Avicula, Mya, and Cardita, with the single univalve

Organic Re-
mains. shell Trochus Anglicanus of Lister, not, perhaps, met with in any of the succeeding strata; a shell of the genus Helicina, and the first simple unilocular shell having a turriculated form, met with in a fossil state, being a species of the genus Melania. Several species of crustacea occur. Spines, teeth, and other parts of fishes also occur, but in general in an imperfect state. Bones and palates of turtle have been found in this formation; but it is particularly distinguished by its containing remains of two very remarkable extinct genera of oviparous quadrupeds, belonging to the same class with the natural order Lacerta, but yet differing in structure from all the genera at present known to exist, and in such particulars as must have fitted them to live entirely in the sea. These are the animals already mentioned under the names Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus.

b. Oolite, &c.

In the strata above the lias belonging to the oolite, including also the rocks named Cornbrash, Coral Rag, &c. many genera of organic remains are met with, which we shall now enumerate in the usual manner, beginning with those of the lowest or least perfect animals.

1. Lower Oolite.—Traces of Alecynia, and the following genera of corals, are met with, viz. Explanaria, Astrea, Caryophyllia, Fungia, and Cyclolites. The interesting Crinoide family affords the Pentacrinites Caput Medusæ, and Subangularis; species, sometimes well preserved, of the genera Conulus, Cidaris, Echinus, and Clypeus of the Echinus family, are met with, and rarely fragments of Crustacea. Shells of the following genera are abundant, viz. Pecten, Ostrea, Terebratula, Modiola, Tellina, Unio, Lutraria, Trigonia, Trochus, Belemnites, Nautilites, and Ammonites. Remains of vertebral animals are of rare occurrence, the only instance known being of vertebrae, supposed to belong to the marine lacerta.

2. Cornbrash, Stonesfield Slate, Forest Marble, and Great Oolite.—The following is a general enumeration of the organic remains met with in this part of the oolite series, which, in the regular succession, rests on the lower oolite.

Species of Millepora, Tubipora, Cyclolite, and Caryophyllia, occur in this part of the oolite series, and the Encrinital family appears in considerable variety; species of Echini, and two or three varieties of Crustacea also occur. The fossil shells are of the following genera: Terebratula, Lima, Avicula, Pecten, Ostrea, Cardium, Trigonia, Modiola, Serpula, Voluta, Turbo, Turritella, Ampullaria, Ammonites, and Nautilus. Teeth, vertebrae, and palates of fish are met with; and also several species of Tortoise. Several oviparous quadrupeds have been found; one is a well characterized Crocodile, and remains of a Megalosaurus, forty feet long, were found at Stonesfield. But the most singular fact is, the occurrence of bones of a species of Didelphis, or Opossum, in the Stonesfield slate. Fragments of fossil wood are met with; and the Stonesfield slate exhibits beautiful impressions, chiefly of ferns and reeds, many of which resemble those of the coal formation.

3. Coral Rag.—This limestone lies above the preceding, and is also a member of the Oolite series. It abounds in corals,—contains many different species of the tribe Echinus, and considerable variety of bivalve and univalve shells, and among the latter are species of Ammonites, Nautilites, and Belemnites. The remains of vertebral animals are rare, and of these the most remarkable are the vertebrae of the Ichthyosaurus.

4. Kimberidge Clay.—Under this head we include a series of clay beds, higher in the series than the preceding, but still belonging to the oolite formation. It contains both bivalve and univalve fossil shells, and of these the most characteristic is the Ostrea deltoidea. It also contains remains of the Ichthyosaurus and bones resembling those of the whale.

5. Portland Oolite.—The most characteristic shells in this Oolite are the Ammonites triplicatus, and Pecten lamellosus.

6. Purbeck Beds.—This limestone contains beautiful impressions of fish; also bones of turtle, and heads of crocodiles. Its shells have not been well examined.

7. Third Sandstone Formation, or Green Sand Formation.

In this formation the organic remains, whether of animals or vegetables, are often in a siliceous state. All the wood found in this formation is silicified, but none of it has hitherto been referred to any even of the most general divisions of the botanical system. Numerous silicified Aleuromyia are met with, and also a good many fossil species of the family Echinus. Corals, and also species of the Crinoid family, rarely occur. Shells occur in vast abundance, and in great variety; but, with the exception of a few teeth of fish, no remains of vertebral animals have hitherto been met with.

8. Fourth Limestone Formation, or Chalk Formation.
a. Chalk Marl.

The lower part of this formation, named chalk marl, affords considerable variety of fossil organic remains,—fossil Corals, Sponges, Echini, Crustacea, Encrinites, and bivalve and univalve shells; and of these the most abundant and interesting are those of the multilocular division. The species of the multilocular genus Hamites are numerous and abundant, and are highly characteristic of this part of the chalk formation. Fossil wood is sometimes met with.

b. Chalk.

This formation contains many organic remains of animals, from the sponge to the alligator. The families of Aleuromyia and Spongia occur in great variety of form, but their characters are still much involved in obscurity. Madrepores occur, and but little changed from their original state; also several genera of the Crinoidea, and the species often in a high state of preservation. Several species of the Asterias, or star fish, are described as occurring in chalk; but of all the organic remains, those of the tribe Echinus are the most numerous, abundant and characteristic of the formation. Of the fossil shells probably the only genera peculiar to the chalk

are the Crania and Magas. Of the multilocular genera the following are met with; viz. Ammonites, Scaphites, and Belemnites. The first occurs rarely in the upper chalk; the second only in the lower. The remains of several tribes of fishes are met with, which are alleged to belong to the following genera; viz. Squalus, Diodon, Balistes, Muraena, Anarhichas, Salmo, Esoc, and Zeus. The remains are chiefly different sulcate palates, teeth, detached vertebrae, and irregular masses, with the scales of fishes. The teeth are generally referable to different species of shark or Squalus; the bony tongues and palates to different species of Raia.

9. Brown Coal Formation.

This formation, which rests upon chalk, is almost entirely composed of extinct species of plants; and in some countries, as Switzerland, it is associated with vast accumulations of a conglomerate named Nagelfluh.

10. Paris Formation.

Under this head we comprehend all the different secondary rocks newer than the brown coal or chalk formations. In this group of rocks the number and variety of organic remains is great, and in general they are in a higher state of preservation than in the preceding formations, and also approach much nearer to the organic beings of the present creation. The members of this series, as it occurs in England, are as follows, reckoning from below upwards. 1. Plastic clay. 2. London clay. 3. Fresh water formations. 4. Upper marine formations.

1. Plastic Clay.—In this clay, which reposes immediately either on brown coal or chalk, there are Ostrea, Cerithia, Turritella, Cyclades, &c. together with the teeth of fish and portions of coal.

2. London Clay, the Calcaire Grossier of the French.—Few corals occur; the echinites, so common in chalk, are very rare in this formation, and very few of the encrinite family have yet been discovered. Crabs and lobsters are frequent; for in the British Museum there are preserved thirty different species of crabs from the London clay in the Island of Sheppey. Fossil shells are numerous and well preserved, often retaining nearly the appearance of recent shells. There are but few genera of recent shells that do not occur in this formation, but the species are generally different; on the other hand, few of the extinct genera, so common in the older formations, occur in this. No multilocular or bivalves of complicated structure occur in this clay. About thirty-two genera of bivalves have been found in the more ancient strata; and only five or six new genera have been found in the London clay; but, on the other hand, the more ancient strata have been found to contain only twelve or fourteen genera of simple turbinated univalves, whilst the London clay and its accompanying sands and crag have afforded thirty-two genera of turbinated shells; twenty-five of which, with about sixteen other genera not known to have existed in a mineralised slate, inhabit the present waters of our globe. Petrified fishes of great beauty are

Dendrocephalus
brevirostris.

Dendrocephalus
brevirostris.

Right Tibia

Tarsal Bone

Metatarsal Bn.

Right Forearm Bone

Right Humeral Bone

Third Finger Bone

MEGATHERIUM.

Drawn from the Specimen in the Royal Cabinet of Madrid.

Engraved by W. Haines