106 



THE FAR PAST. 



ocean and over all there is a fades or general resemblance 

 that stamps the period as distinct from the old red sand- 

 stone that precedes, as from the new red that follows. 

 The seas swarm with zoophytes of various families, and 

 reef-building corals (astrwopora, cyathophyllum, clisioplnjl- 

 lum, and lithostrotiori) pile up the masses of the mountain 



1, Syringopera ; 2, Lithostrotion ; 3, Aulopora ; 4, Amplexus ; 

 o, ClisiophyUum ; 6, Ptilopora ; 7, Arcliimedopora. 



limestone. Star-fishes (pentremites), sea-urchins (palcechinus 

 and arcliceocidaris), and encrinites of numerous genera and 

 species abound the latter in such profusion that ihey 

 now outweigh the zoophytes, and whole strata are com- 

 posed of their calcareous remains. Serpulce and spirorbes 

 attach their sheaths to every available object ; sea- worms, 

 like the arenicola, leave their tracks and burrows in the 

 sands ; and these are also pattered with footprints, pitted 



