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CHAP. IV. 



FOSSILS OF THE SEA-SHORE. 



General Views. Fossils of the Palaeozoic, the Secondary and 

 the Tertiary Epochs, and various Considerations regarding 

 them. 



FROM the geological phenomena presented by our 

 sea-shores as apparent from the preceding sketch, 

 it will be perceived that a very large proportion 

 of the space they include is occupied, not by the 

 Primary or Plutonic Eocks, but by what are called 

 by geologists the Secondary Formations, Tertiary 

 Strata, and Alluvial Deposits. All of these abound 

 in the fossil remains of plants and animals pecu- 

 liar to the epochs to which they belong. It' is 

 requisite therefore in noticing the geology of the 

 sea-shore, that we direct our attention to the 

 remains of organised beings which they contain. 



To do this, however, it is not requisite that we 

 proceed to consider the organic remains of the 

 various formations in the miscellaneous order in 

 which they occur to us in a tour along the coast. 

 It will conduce much more to clearness and accu- 

 racy if instead of this we adopt the plan of point- 

 ing out, independently of their locality, the fossils 

 characteristic of the formations which occur in 



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