THE MUSEUM. 



135 



tween the conifers and the palms, a 

 sort of tree ferns. The lower class of 

 marine animals present themselves in 

 abundance; corals are scanty, the 

 crinoids are numerous, and show an 

 advance of organization. Now we 

 have the first fossil of the winged 

 saurians, or the flying lizard, a sort of 

 bat-like animal; crocodiles of the spec- 

 ies of our own time were also common. 

 In the highest part of the Oolitic per- 

 iod we have what is termed the dirt 

 bed : above this bed lies the wealden, 

 which is chiefly remarkable for the 

 additions which it makes to the list of 

 reptiles presented in previous forma- 

 tions. Here we have, besides some 

 new crocodiles, the Mcgalosanrus. 

 This animal is about thirty feet long, 

 and by far the most formidable crea- 

 ture of its age. Then we have the 

 Iguanodon of Mantell, another im- 

 mense animal of the mammalian type. 



The Cretaceous era presents beds of 

 sand, alternately with clay and chalk. 

 The distinctive feature of the upper 

 chalk is the presence of flint It is 

 remarkable that the chalk with flint 

 abounds in the north of Europe, and 

 that without flint in the south. All 

 the ordinary orders of the inhabitants 

 of the seas have been found in the 

 cretaceous formation, whilst the land 

 reptiles seem to diminish in number. 

 Fuci abounds, and terrestrial vegeta- 

 tion. Of terrestrial animals the spec- 

 imens are rare. Professor Owen, in 

 i860, discovered some vertebrae of the 

 whale, in the lower green sandstone, 

 near Cambridge; and in the slate of 

 Glavis, in Switzerland, corresponding 

 to the English gait, the remains of 

 birds have been found. 



We come now to the era of the 

 Tertiary formation. The end of the 



Secondary formation, which we have 

 just concluded, presents a sort of fin- 

 ish to one epoch, and a new order of 

 beings at once springs up. All ap- 

 pears to have undergone a total 

 change. We witness a difference in 

 the shelly inhabitants of the seas, and 

 many forms previously abundant, dis- 

 appear entirely. It has been stated 

 by geologists that at this period there 

 was an entire renewal of life on our 

 planet; but it is evident that a few of 

 the previously existing species do pass 

 into this strata. In this formation we 

 find the elephant, the ox, deer, camel, 

 fox, wolf, badger, otter, the bear, and 

 numerous other species of our own 

 times. 



The era of the superficial formations 

 presents very little difference to the 

 former ones in regard to its zoology. 

 The remains found are generally those 

 prevailing or merging into the species 

 at present existing. At Market Weigh- 

 ton and in the Vale of York there 

 have been found bones of the elephant, 

 rhinoceros, bison, wolf, horse, birds, 

 nearly all presenting peculiarities dif- 

 fering from existing species, though 

 associated with many species of land 

 and fresh water shells now living in 

 the vicinity. The superficial deposits 

 show as near as possible remains iden- 

 tical with the existing species. Still 

 there is even here an absence of the 

 sheep, the goat, and many of our dom- 

 estic animals; and above all it lacks 

 the remains of man. We thus learn 

 that his existence upon the earth is but 

 of yesterday. Attempts have been 

 made to prove the contrary, but with- 

 out proof. It was stated that the re- 

 mains of man had been found at a 

 stage of the drift prior to the extinc- 

 tion of the animals of the bone caves, 



