74 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



least ancient of the secondary rocks, it would 

 appear that the surface of the earth presented the. 

 appearance of great unevenness. On this account 

 what is now the continent of Europe was a group 

 of islands with wide channels and seas lying be- 

 tween them. The tertiary epoch presents us with 

 the geological formations by which many of the 

 deep depressions on the surface were filled up. 

 Thus, London and Paris are situated above the de- 

 posits thus formed, the tertiary deposits filling up 

 the basin over which London is built being from 

 300 to 600 feet in thickness. 



The fossils of the tertiary epoch are extremely 

 numerous. The shells alone amount to nearly 

 3000 kinds. Fishes, reptiles, and birds, occur 

 in it in great number and variety. At this 

 epoch the earth had become the fit abode of 

 creatures superior to the amphibious reptiles 

 which were the principal inhabitants of more 

 ancient formations. Accordingly the remains of 

 the tertiary epoch are those of pachydermata or 

 thick-skinned animals, of which the elephant and 

 the rhinoceros are existing specimens. But many 

 of them were of vast bulk and uncouth shape. 

 The Megatherium was larger than the largest 

 existing species of elephant. The Mylodon was 

 nearly as large as the Hippopotamus. Along the 

 eastern coast of England and off the mouth of the 

 Thames, teeth, tusks, and bones of elephants are 

 often dredged up by the fishermen, which have 

 been washed out of the deposits belonging to the 

 tertiary period. Great numbers of the fossil 



