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On the Value of' the Evidence from, the Animal Kingdom, tend- 

 ing to prove that the Arctic Regions formerly enjoyed a 

 milder Climate tlian at present. By the llev. John Fle- 

 ming, D. D. F. R. S. E. (Communicated by the Author.) 



It was long a favourite opinion among naturalists, that all the 

 species of animals or vegetables, which the Omnipotent Creator 

 ever called into being, still remain the inhabitants of this globe, 

 independent of the dangers to which they have been exposed, or 

 the changes which have taken place in their geographical distri- 

 bution. The difficulties which attended the acknowledgment 

 of this opinion, arising from the number of singular forms found 

 imbedded in the regular strata, or distributed among the loose 

 materials on the surface of the earth — forms indicating species 

 which the neighbouring districts did not possess — were conceived 

 to be in a great measure removed, by the supposition, that un- 

 known regions might yet exhibit living examples, in addition to 

 many species of which the naturalist had obtained no informa- 

 tion. In proportion, however, as the progress of geography ex- 

 tended our acquaintance with distant regions, and failed to fur- 

 nish the requisite examples, the opinions of naturalists experien- 

 ced a corresponding change. The ancient creed was at length 

 abandoned ; and no one, acquainted with the subject, refused to 

 acknowledge, that in the earth were preserved the relics of nu- 

 merous species which have no longer a place among the living 

 on this globe. . 



The characters of the extinct species, after this change in pub- 

 lic opinion, presented to the philosophical observer an extensive 

 field of research and speculation. Prevented now from expend- 

 ing his resources, in seeking out the dwellings of animals which 

 no longer exist, his attention was directed to the characters of 

 those extinct species, the relics of which the strata had pre- 

 served, with the view of tracing their relations with the living 

 tribes. The bones of the mammoth, occurring in the loose stra- 

 ta, were speedily identified with those of an elephant. The shells 

 and corals of the older strata were exhibited, as resembling the 

 productions of equatorial seas ; while the impressions of vege- 

 tables, found in the shale of our coal-fields, were traced to be 



