117 



FOSSILS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



The discontinuance of my communications on the 

 Natural History of this neighbourhood has been 

 unavoidable, by reason of business. In resuming 

 my pen, to state the amount of my knowledge of the 

 Fossils of this district, I should feel ashamed to do 

 so, but for two reasons — firstly, the information which 

 has been collected on this subject has never been 

 presented to the public under an available form ; 

 and, secondly, I am enabled to bring before the 

 world certain additional facts which cannot fail to 

 prove interesting to all classes of readers, and in an 

 especial manner to those persons who have concerned 

 themselves with this department. It seems that the 

 animal remains of this neighbourhood may be refer- 

 red to two classes, — the " extinct'' and the " extirpa- 

 ted" kinds of Fleming, and that these are respectively 

 referable to two grand epochs of the changes of the 

 Earth. The former, which comprises animals of the 

 lower tribes, and which had exclusive possession of 

 the earth during its primaeval states, now found im- 

 bedded in limestone, clay-slate, and sandstone ; and 

 the latter, which comprises animals of a higher order, 

 not materially different from, (perhaps, in some cases 

 identical with) the present race — which occupied the 

 Earth some centuries ago ; but which, becoming the 

 victims of a flood, or acted upon after a natural or 

 accidental death, by the same element — are found at 

 this time in caverns of the lime rock, imbedded in, 

 and connected with, substances which attest the event 

 just alluded to. 



It cannot be expected that in a Science for which 

 so little has yet been done, and in which at the same 

 time, I profess myself a novice ; I should lay before 

 your readers an account of genera and species of 

 Fossils, speaking in detail, and without hesitation ; 

 such could not be done by the best informed. I 

 shall proceed however to make some general remarks 

 on the distribution, &c., of the organic remains of the 



