h 



speaking of the Trias^ic lake, he says, " the sheet of waler 

 l)eing apparently as salt, as clear, and heavy and as nearly 

 lifeless as the modern waters of the Dead Sea, or of tJie great 

 salt lake of Utah." May not these beds be rather due to the 

 fishes, which the Liassic sea brought in, being killed by the 

 salinity of the waters of the inland lake? or, perhaps, after life 

 had developed through the change of water, the land temporarily 

 rose again, or became stationary for a time, and, the salinity 

 returning, the fishes, no longer able to sustain life, perished, 

 and their remains sank, in a layer, on the sea Hour. 



There is another fact of interest connected with the 

 Rhcetics, which must not be omitted before we leave them, and that 

 is, that the earliest known British mammrd, the Microlestes, a small 

 insect eating animal, is found within its strata. The Rho'tic 

 beds contain also remains of the huge Saurians which are so 

 characteristic of the Lias and higher formations ; and we are 

 indebted to Mr. Montagu Browne, of the Leicester INIuseum, for 

 an account of several new species, which he recorded at the 

 recent meeting of the British Association at Oxford, as well as 

 on two former occasions. Remains of Saurian life occur also in 

 the Rhcetic strata at Lea, near Gainsborough'. 



AND now we pass on to the Lias, the lower beds of the 

 Jurassic system, in ■which the ironstone bands of Frodingham 

 and Appleby are found, and change to a deep sea; the remains 

 of which, beginning a little way to the east of Gainsborough, 

 extend right across to Lincoln, and form the material of the Cliff 

 there, to within 20 feet of its summit. 



This sea is one of great interest, it covered a great part 

 of England with a portion of Ireland, and ran up far north 

 into Scotland, having rivers to feed it from the adjoining lands 

 around; while, to the south, it extended doun towards tlie 

 tropics. Its depth was considerable, and, as its stiata show, 

 its waters teemed with life. Fish, reptiles, molluscs of many 



