64 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



contain many peculiar types, and are supposed to 

 form a connecting link between those of the 

 Silurian system, which preceded the Devonian, and 

 the Carboniferous system, which followed it. 



Almost the only traces of vegetables found in 

 this system, are, like those of the Silurian, the re- 

 mains of fucoid plants. 



The Zoophytes are numerous, and consist of 

 corals and Crinoidea, comprising a number of 

 kinds ; the Mollusca contain many genera and 

 species, such as those of Buccinum, Turbo, Pecten 

 and others ; the Cephalopoda are also numerous, 

 embracing such shells as those of Orthoceras, 

 Bellerophon and others. 



Among the Crustaceans of this formation are 

 considerable numbers of trilobites, which, as 

 already shown, are embedded in countless my- 

 riads in the older strata of the Silurian. 



The fishes of this formation, according to 

 Agassiz, amount to at least a hundred species, of 

 which those belonging to British strata are more 

 than sixty in number. Of these the Cephalaspis 

 or buckler-head ; the Perichthys or winged-fish ; 

 and the Coccosteus or berry-bone, may be men- 

 tioned as examples. 



III. We now turn to the fossils of the Carboni- 

 ferous system, so called because it comprises the 

 principal deposits of mineral fuel. This system is 

 next in point of antiquity to the Devonian, which 

 in order of time occupies the interval between the 

 Carboniferous and the Silurian systems. The Car- 

 boniferous formation extends, as already stated, 



