. II. RELICS, into Min. Kingd. 29 



Fish, or other marine animals, endued with a 

 great degree of locomotive power, have, probably, 

 been arrested in their course, and instantly killed, 

 by some sudden diffusion of matter, inimical to ani- 

 mal life.f Hence, piscine relics occur imbedded in 

 shoals, as it were, in those strata which are pecu- 

 liarly the repositories of such remains. 



Where vegetable fossils, whose originals grew on 

 dry land, are found mixed with marine shells, &c., 

 in deep and regularly disposed beds,\ f it is obvious 



t It may be somewhat difficult to conceive, how a diffusion and 

 subsequent deposition of matter, fatal to fish and other swift- 

 moving animals, could take place in those parts of the ocean, 

 which were previously habitable for such animals, and, of course, 

 not greatly contaminated by mineral ingredients. That the cause 

 of the event was sudden, and that the inclosureof the fish, &c., al- 

 most instantly followed their loss of life, is pretty evident, from the 

 attendant phenomena. Mr. Raspe has considered all this, as hav- 

 ing been effected by sub-marine volcanic eruptions (v.Raspe.Ferber's 

 It. pref. p. 28.) A similar idea is adopted, with much success, by 

 Mr. Graydon, in his excellent account of the Monte Boka fish. 

 These he supposes have been enveloped in a diffusion of lime, 

 arising from immense masses of calcareous stone, ejected in a cal- 

 cined state, by sub-aqueous volcanoes, (v. Irish Trans, vol. 5.p.310.} 



ff The phenomenon of vegetable remains being sometimes 

 found mixed with those of the sea, has been brought fonvard as a 

 proof of the agency of the deluge, in the interment of all organic 

 bodies in mineral strata: but, in opposition to the inference in 

 question, it is very justly observed, that, where extensive beds of 

 sea-shells &c., occur, though mixed with vegetable remains, in re- 

 gular strata, the appearances indicated are incompatible with the 

 turbulence and short duration of the deluge ; at least agreeable to 



