280 Rev. W. D.Conybeare on a Geological Map of [April, 



of recent crocodiles have been found out at sea a considerable 

 distance from the land. It becomes the inquisitive spirit of 

 science to propose these problems ; — it becomes the modesty of 

 that spirit to hesitate in attempting (without more ample data 

 than we at present possess) their solution. Many other genera 

 referable to the great order of the lizard family, but evidently 

 partially or entirely aquatic, which have either entirely vanished 

 from, or (and this is from their bulk and striking appearance very 

 improbable) remain undetected in the actual state of animated 

 nature, are preserved in these beds to exercise the researches of 

 the comparative anatomist. We already reckon, and the subject 

 is yet far from exhausted, four distinct genera of this kind 

 (1. The fossil saurian, of Maestricht ; 2. That of Stonesfield, 

 megalo saurus ; 3. The plesio saurus ; 4. The ichthyosaurus); 

 many of these, the latter especially (which unites to the head of 

 a lizard the vertebral column of a fish, and combines the modes 

 of progression peculiar to each), present links as important as 

 striking in the great chain of animal being : the lines of Lucre- 

 tius are, therefore, in one sense* philosophically true : 



Multaque turn tellus etiam portenta cr~aTe 



Conata 'st mira facie membrisque coorfca, 



Multaque turn interiisse animantum soeela necesse est. 



Turtles more or less approaching to the recent are likewise 

 found. Here again we have some presumption, though cer- 

 tainly no proof, of a warmer climate. 



Mingled with these remains (though in such small quantity as 

 to show that they have been casually brought from a distance, 

 while the former are found under circumstances which indicate 

 their having lived and died in their present sites), are the disjecta 

 membra of land animals (the didelphys of Stonesfield), of birds 

 (also Stonesfield), and of coleopterous insects (also Stonesfield), 

 sufficiently proving that the earth and air were peopled with life 

 as well as the waters. 



The vegetables of this series are dicotyledonous as well as 

 monocotyledonous. The shells are characterized by the disap- 

 pearance of many of the genera, and most of the species, belong- 

 ing to the transition and carboniferous series, and the introduc- 

 tion of many new genera, almost all the species being also new; 

 scarcely indeed a single species can be identified. The same 

 remark applies equally to the zoophytes. 



In one instance, that of the encrinites, Mr. Miller has made an 

 observation as important and beautiful as it is original. This very- 

 interesting order of animals considered merely in the relations of 



* Not certainly in that which bears an aspect favourable to materialism, for it is 

 impossible to point out instances of design more striking or beautiful than are often 

 exhibited in the structure of these fossil animals. Thus much even in the present 

 obscurity of the subject we can perceive ; and did we fully know the various revolutions 

 of our planet, we should doubtless find fresh reason to admire the adaptation of its 

 living occupants to its existing state at every successive period. 



