150 Mr Conybeaif on the former TemperaUire 



and the weald of Sussex, and in the plastic clay and tlie London 

 clay. 



7. Mammalia. — I do not know how I can exhibit the argu- 

 ment more comprehensively than by a list of the animal genera 

 actually limited exclusively to warm latitudes, but occurring 

 fossil in this country or the north of France. 



1. Elephant. — 2. Rhinoceros. — 3. Hippopotamus, — 4. Tapir. 

 5. Large Feles. — 6. Hyasnas. With these are certainly inter- 

 mingled animals of genera still found in our climates, as the ox, 

 hog, horse, stag, &c ; but it must be remembered that these 

 genera ai-e commonly diffused, and not actually limited to any 

 particular latitude. 



We have here, then, a positive analogy deduced from six ge- 

 nera, exclusively belonging to warm climates ; and how does 

 Dr Fleming combat it .'' Does he produce any negative analogy .'' 

 No such thing ; he alleges certain genera which afford no indi- 

 cations as to temperature whatever, but are indifferent in this 

 respect, and common to all latitudes, and therefore have no in- 

 fluence any way on the question. He boasts, indeed, that his 

 elephants repose imder the shade of the genealogical tree of our 

 existing quadrupeds ; but a metaphor is not an argument. He 

 may have calculated too hastily on a repose likely to be disturbed, 

 and the roots of his tree may be less securely planted than 

 he imagines ; for he has not offered the shadow of an argument 

 to prove that the fossil horses of England resemble more neaiiy 

 our actual varieties than tliey do those now inhabiting the tor- 

 rid zone. And how does he account for the extinction of these 

 last genera, and the present position of their remains ? He be- 

 lieves them to have been exterminated by man before the period 

 to which our earliest historical notices ascend, while yet the 

 island was nine-tenths overshadowed with trackless forests, afford- 

 ing the securest coverts to the animal tribes ; while the woods 

 of Arden occupied all the midland counties, and the Sylva Ande- 

 rida filled the greater portion of the southern (which yet were 

 the most civilized, and therefore likely to be most cleared) ; and 

 this bv a people of whom we arc informed that their habits were 

 pastoral, and not those of hunters. We are further requested 

 to believe that the animals thus exterminated were biu'ied ten or 

 twenty feet deep in gravel, by the action of certain imaginary 



