XIV 



perhaps an intermediate league presents the same 

 Polypidom to observation, that composes the heads of 

 their mountains. The air, light, and rains, have con- 

 tributed to destroy the animals of these madrepores ; 

 their skeletons alone remain to attest the ancient so- 

 journ of the ocean in these elevated sites, and the 

 slow but incessant diminishing of the waters on the 

 planet we inhabit. Voyagers have found fossil ma- 

 drepores on the Alps, the Pyrenees, &c. M. Ra- 

 mond, in a letter to M. de St. Amans, says, " he dis- 

 covered marine relics on the summit of Mount 

 Perdu/' the highest of the Pyrenees. 



BASE OR POINT OF FIXING. 



t 



Some plants are found in all latitudes, in all coun- 

 tries, and in all soils, whether on the roof of the cot- 

 tage, or on the marble of the palace : the number of 

 these plants is however inconsiderable. The majority 

 of vegetables that adorn the surface of the globe, re- 

 quire a particular soil and climate : the same is not the 

 case with Polypidoms ; few among them prefer one 

 substance to another in fixing : the greater number of 

 these beings, requiring only one point of rest, attach in- 

 differently to any hard or solid body the sea contains ; 



