MODE IX. GYPSUM. 495 



basis, is very scarce at Montmartre; but is 

 common in the hill of St. Germain-en-Laye, 

 where it is found in grouped crystals, spread in 

 a red veined clay, which precedes the beds of 

 limestone, found towards the summit of the hill. 



" At Montmartre I also found striped sele- 

 nite, in small layers of two or three lines in 

 thickness." * 



One of the most singular discoveries made at 

 Montmartre was a horse-shoe, partly corroded 

 by age ; but more than the half remains with 

 the holes very distinct. It is said to have been 

 found at a great depth in the solid mass, and 

 had most probably dropped into a reft, after- 

 wards filled by stalactitic matter, a common ap- 

 pearance in gypsous regions. 



Fossiie bones did not attract so much curi* 

 osity when they were carelessly examined, and 

 supposed to belong to known animals. But the 

 singular discovery in South America of the en- 

 tire skeleton of an animal larger than the ele- 

 phant, and of quite a different genus, and now 

 totally extinct f, led to more minute investi- 

 gations and comparisons, till it was at length 



Sage, Supplement a la Description Methodique du Cabinet 

 de 1'Ecole Royale des Mines. Paris 1787, 8vo. p. 124. 



f See the print, Faujas, Essai de geologie, from the large plates 

 engraved by order of the King of Spain, 



