2]0 FOSSIL IXK OF THE CUTTLE-FISH. 



" I have drawings of the remains of extinct species 

 prepared also with their own ink." He argues, too, 

 that the creatures thus found must have been in- 

 stantly destroyed, because they contain the fluid which 

 the living sepia emits in the moment of alarm ; and 

 that they must have been immediately buried, because 

 the membranes continue distended. Exposed but a few 

 hours to decomposition in the water, they would have 

 speedily decayed, and have spilt their ink. It was, 

 therefore, by a sudden death and quick interment in 

 the sediment that formed the strata, that the petrified 

 ink and ink-bags were thus preserved. 



The shells of cephalopods, allied to the pearly 

 nautilus and spirula, are extremely abundant among 

 the fossil forms which the surface of the globe entombs. 

 In addition to those we have hastily noticed, there are 

 others which have received the names of turrilites 

 hamites, baculites, etc. They prove that the now li- 

 mited group of chamber-shelled cephalopods, on which 

 we dwelt in the last chapter, was at one period most ex- 

 tensive, and that it abounded in forms and species, vary- 

 ing in size from that of a pear, and even from a smaller 

 size, to that of a cart-wheel. 



Here then is evidence — on other proofs we do not 

 enter — that innumerable beings have lived, of which not 



