of the Northern Regions. 147 



with the principles there developed ; but I must remind Dr Fle- 

 ming, that this forms an essential part of the argument of the 

 geologists he opposes, and must not be overlooked by him, if he 

 seriously buckles himself to the task of overthrowing their theo- 

 ries. But, for the present, I will confine myself, as he has 

 done, to the evidence from the animal kingdom. 



I will begin with the simplest forms of these, briefly noticing 

 a ^ew of the most important families in ascending the scale. A 

 complete survey must, of course, be precluded by the limit of a 

 periodical journal. 



1st, The most remarkable remains of the zoophytes are those 

 of the Lamelliferous Polyparia (Madrepores of Linnaeus). 

 This family is actually found in its fullest developement, only in 

 the tropical seas of Polynesia and the East and West Indies.* 

 The Mediterranean also contains a considerable assortment of 

 species, though inferior in size, abundance and variety.' Beyond 

 these latitudes I can only find one single species, and that a 

 small one, in Lamarck's catalogue, though he divides this section 

 into 19 genera, some of them containing more than 30 species ; 

 his solitary exception, is Oculina polifera, which inhabits the seas 

 of Norway -f-. Not to overstate the argument, however, I must 

 deduct about a fifth of the species included in this list, as being 

 only found in a fossil state ; but there will still be left hundreds 

 of species inhabiting warm latitudes, against the solitary tenant 

 of colder seas. 



Now, the fossil ilepositcs of those zoophytal structures, are in 

 the older strata completely j)arallel to those of the tropical regions, 

 in the abundance, variety and size of the species included. They 

 have given name to one of our English formations (the Coral 

 Rag) some of its beds being almost entirely constituted by the la- 

 bours of these active polypi. We here find an accumulation quite 

 resembling the coral banks of the East or West Indies, and 

 scarcelv differing more widely in species from either of these, 



• Captuin Kiiij; observed that no i-cral reefs occur south of 25° 30'' on the 

 East of New Holland. 



t 111 the Zoological Journal vol. iii. \). 480, Mr Hr(,den|) has described an 

 Knirlish Caryophyllca (C. Smithii), in an appendix to the notes of De la Beche 

 on the habits of this zoophyte, which he found in Tor Bay, and fed with piece.S 

 of Crustacea, &c. for some lime. A plate (pi. 13.) in which the animal and 

 polviiariuni ;ire lip^iired, accompanies the memoir. 



k J> 



