SHELLS OF THE LONDON 1BASLN. 3QQ 



phenomenon is one of universal extent and influence, affect- 

 ing, in fact, every portion of the surface of the globe ; and 

 as its operation has but recently been under|tood, it may 

 be expedient to devote a brief space to its explanation. 

 Prom the earliest observation, it was evident that existing 

 continents had once been the bed of the sea. To explain 

 the phenomenon, it was assumed that the sea had retired, 

 whilst the land had retained its position. Yet since the 

 same spot had, in many cases, been the site of sea and land, 

 under the varied conditions of sea, estuary, island, river, and 

 lake, it became necessary to suppose several successive 

 retirements and returns of the water. But while such a 

 supposition was insufficient to explain the problem, as 

 regarded the sea, it proved inapplicable to the land ; far 

 from affording evidence of having always remained in a 

 tranquil position, the land offered, in its dislocations and dis- 

 turbances, its fractures and fissures, its elevations and sub- 

 sidences, incontestable proofs that it had been the scene of 

 the changes in question, and that their occurrence was to 

 be explained by alterations in the level of the land, and not 

 of the sea. 



TEMPLE OP JUPITER SERAPIS. The fact that the land 

 has been raised, and not the sea lowered, has received 

 abundant confirmation. In the bay of Baiae, near Naples, 

 some pillars and other fragments of a Roman building were 

 long known to exist. They were supposed to be the remains 

 of a Temple of Jupiter Serapis, though modern antiquaries 

 have shown, that the worship of the Egyptian deity was 

 proscribed to the Eoman people, at the period presumed to 

 be that of their erection, and that these relics are, probably, 

 the ruins of an extensive suite of thermce, or baths. After 

 having excited the interest of the antiquary, the attention 

 of the naturalist was drawn to the phenomenon of certain 

 perforations exhibited in the three remaining pillars, at about 

 twenty feet from the ground. It is well known that Litho- 

 domi live only in the sea, bore into calcareous rocks, and 

 exist in the apertures thus made. The perforations in these 

 columns were effected by mollusks of this family. Prom 

 this, and other facts, it has been demonstrated that the 

 columns have suffered, since their erection, a submersion 

 beneath the sea, a long sojourn there, and a subsequent 



