294 ON THE ICTIS OF DIODORUS SICULUS. 
that eminent geologist has nowhere hazarded the 
conjecture, that the Isle of Wight, at low water, 
was ever connected with the main land, during 
the historical period ; nor has the slightest portion 
of direct proof ever been adduced, in support of 
such a supposition. On the contrary, there is a 
long and unbroken chain of evidence to show, that 
the Isle of Wight has been separated from the 
main land, as far back as any written record of 
it extends. 
For these reasons, then, we seem warranted 
in rejecting, as wholly untenable, the supposi- 
tion that the Ictis of Diodorus was the Isle of 
Wight. 
Impressed with the difficulty attending this 
supposition, several literary and scientific men of 
eminence, among whom are Sir C. Hawkins, Dr. 
Maton, Dr. Barham, and Mr. Hawkins, have 
thought that St. Michael’s Mount was tie island, 
which forms the subject of the present investiga- 
tion. This hypothesis is represented as “ ex- 
tremely probable” by Sir Henry T. De la Beche, 
in his “ Report on the Geology of Cornwall, 
Devon, and West Somerset ;” and he remarks, 
that, “as far as the geographical description 
