364 On some Quadrupeds supposed to be extinct. 



ment was dug up at Roxby, in Lincolnshire, upon which is 

 represented Orpheus, surrounded by an elephant, lion, boar, 

 dog, wolf, stag, and another, which appears to be the hippo- 

 potamus*. 



Turtle. Tortoise. 



*^ A beautiful fossil sea-turtle has recently been discovered, 

 and, by the perfect substitution of all the organic parts as weU 

 as its locality, may be considered an interesting remain of a 

 former world. It is encrusted in a mass of ferruginous lime- 

 stone, and weighs ISOlbs. The spot on which it was found is 

 in four fathoms of water, and is formed of an extensive 

 stratum of stones, called the Stone Ridge, about four miles 

 off Harwich harbour ; and is considered to be the line of con- 

 junction between the opposite cliffs of Walton and Harwich. 

 It is in the possession of Mr. Deck, of Cambridge f." 



A fossil turtle was found near Harwich, embedded in a solid 

 block of cement-stone ; another large stone, when broken, was 

 found to contain * 'nearly the whole of a human skeleton J." 



Fossil sea-tortoises have been found in the environs of 

 Brussels, in the environs of Maestricht, at the village of Mels- 

 broeck and in the mountain of St. Peter, in the state of Glaris 

 and in the vicinity of Aix ; they differ in species from any of 

 those at present known §. 



There is not any of the extraneous fossil remains more pro- 

 bably of Roman origin than tortoises. "The beds, the doors, 

 and pillars of the houses of the Greeks and Romans, Avere 

 decorated with tortoise-shell. In the reign of Augustus, this 

 species of luxury was at its height in Rome ||. Bruce says, the 

 Egyptians dealt very largely with the Romans in this elegant 

 article of commerce ; Martial relates that beds were inlaid with 

 it; Velleius Paterculus observes, that when Alexandria was 

 taken by Julius Csesar, the magazines were so full of this 

 article, that he at first proposed to make it the principal orna- 

 ment of his triumph ; as he used ivory afterwards when tri- 

 umphing for his African victories ^.'" 



«'* Conq.ofPeru.p. 450. 

 t New London Literary Gazette, Oct. 13, 1827, p. 303. 

 % Common Sense Newspaper, No. 60. 



I Cuvier's theory ofthe Earth, p. 2fil. 



II Shaw's Zool., HI. pt. 1. Rees's Cyc. " Tortoise." IT Ibid. 



