INTRODUCTION. 1X 
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numerous instances (i). The fragments of palm-trees; the fossil 
masses of gum-elastic ; the impressions of exotic ferns in slate and 
coal; and the fossil bones of the Elephant, Crocodile, etc. found 
in England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe, seem to 
attest a mutation of climate (2). 
Cuvier and Brongniart were the first who announced the exist- 
ence of formations, anterior to history, composed in the same 
manner and presenting the same characters, although situated at 
reat distances from each other, and containing Terrestial and 
F resh-}V ater instead of Marine productions (3). It is impossible 
to admit the hypothesis of the transport of these terrestrial produc- 
tions to the sea by means of rivers. They might have carried into 
the sea some remains of vegetables and some fluviatick and terrestrial 
shells, but then the formations which are composed of them ought 
cette mer qui avoit précédé la notre; elle a éprouvé aussi au moms une 
catastrophe ; et comme plusieurs de ces bancs obliques qu'elle avoit formés les 
premiers s’élévent au-dessus de ces couches horizontales qui leur ont succédeé, 
et qui les entourent, cette catastrophe, en rendant ces bancs obliques, les avoit 
aussi fait saillir au-dessus du niveau de la mer, et en avoit fait des tiles, ou au 
moins des écueils et des inégalités, soit qwils eussent été relevés par une 
extrémité, ou que laflaissement de lextrémité opposée ett fait baisser les 
eaux; second résultat non moins clair, non moins demontré que le premier, 
pour quiconque se donnera la peine d’étudier les monumens qui l'appuient,— 
Cuvier, Discours sur la Théorie de la Terre. Paris, 1821. 
See the note on that singular shell the Zrochus agglutinans, p. 35. 
The Terebellum perditum (the analogous living species of which is not 
known) is found in great numbers and of all ages at Grignon, which M. La- 
marck considers would not have been the case unless the enormous quantity of 
marine shells had lived in that region, instead of being accumulated there by 
some great catastrophe, At Courtagnon, near Rheims, an enormous bed of 
fossil shells discovers itself in several pomts ; it proceeds from east to west, 
appears again al Grignon and some other places, and from M. Lamarck’s 
comparison of the species with those found in Hampshire, appears to have 
extended to that part of England. If so, there is reason to believe that this 
bed has been divided by the Channel since its formation ; and, consequently, 
that its formation was anterior to the last invasion of the sea. 
(2) The rocks of the western coasts of France are interlarded with Gry- 
phites, Ammonites and other shells (coqguilles pelagiennes) known to inhabit 
the sea only at great depths. Recent littoral shells have been found fixed on 
these fossil deep-water shells, which are also common in the hills called Vaches- 
Noires. There isa pottery in that neighbourhood which is supplied with clay 
from that part of the beach which is uncovered at low water; this clay, which 
is said to be very superior, contains quantities of deep-water fossil shells. Tt 
would seem, therefore, that these parts are not now subjected to the sea for 
the first time. Again, the fossil marine shells found more than 60 feet deep in 
the earth, probably were not deposited during the last invasion or passage of 
the sea.—Hydrogeologie, par J. B. Lamarck. Pages 85, 86. 
(5) Lamanon is said to have observed immense beds of fresh-water shells 
on beds of marine shells in the mountains of Proyence. 
