Fossil Gavial from New Jersey. 157 



billows of the ocean, to float on the placid bosom of a fresh 

 water stream ; and of others, like the mastodon, living exclu- 

 sively on dry land. 



The remains of the mastodon, an animal which lived, in all 

 probability, on the surface of the earth as it appears at this day, 

 are strongly contrasted, is some of these deposits, with others 

 which must have existed at a period antecedent to the present 

 condition of the globe. In Europe the remains of reptiles are 

 found far beneath those formations which contain the oldest 

 known quadrupeds. Thus, for example, the region about 

 Honfleur, in France, is particularly rich in the remains of rep- 

 tiles : now, the oldest known vertebral animals are found in the 

 gypsum of Montmartre ; but beneath this gypsum are extensive 

 formations of shell lime, (calcaire coquillier) reposing upon beds 

 of chalk of immense thickness, and underneath these beds 

 occur the remains of reptiles. In New Jersey these reptiles 

 are found a few feet beneath the surface, without any superin- 

 cumbent bed whatever. It has been questioned whether such 

 beds ever existed in this place in this region ; or whether, at 

 some former period in the history of the world, these upper 

 beds have not been carried off and destroyed by the action of 

 deluges or torrents of greater or less extent. But if such a 

 catastrophe occurred, we should find traces of the existence of 

 still more recent formations ; and this, upon examination, ap- 

 pears to be the case. We have, for instance, the plastic clay 

 formation, as characterized by amber, beds of blue clay sur- 

 charged with mica, beds of a recent calcareous origin, deposits 

 of coarse and fine gravel, from the decomposition of amygdaloid, 

 and other remnants of strata long since broken up and depo- 

 sited elsewhere. We may therefore conclude, that although 

 fossils in general characterize formations, and determine their 

 respective epochs, yet that we can draw no safe conclusions 

 respecting the age of these deposits in New Jersey, when we 

 find, in the same locality, remains of antediluvian animals and 

 the workmanship of human hands. They may be considered 

 as the result of a catastrophe, or a series of events which have 



