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The result of a careful examination of this fossil is, that it 

 belongs to some exotic quail, rather larger than the one 

 known in France. 



Fishes. The fossil remains of fishes are found in such 

 various states, under such different circumstances, and in 

 the formations of such distant periods, as cannot but lead 

 the zealous inquirer to expect that he shall derive, from 

 their examination, information of considerable importance. 



The fish, in some specimens, are found nearly entire ; 

 the harder parts all in their natural situations, with their 

 scales, and even their skin, preserved. In others, all the 

 other parts are removed except the skeleton ; the bones of 

 which either retain their original relative situations, or have 

 undergone considerable distortion, and even dislocation. 

 In some instances, not only separation of these parts has 

 taken place, but the greater part of the skeleton has been 

 removed ; the harder parts, the grinding sulcated or tuber- 

 culated teeth having only remained. This circumstance 

 may be accounted for by supposing that, in these instances, 

 the fish were of the cartilaginous kind, and that their ske- 

 letons might have undergone that decomposition which these 

 parts, from their structure or superior degree of hardness, 

 had been able to resist. In other instances, the bones are 

 found partly surrounded by a whitish, spathose, and rather 

 opaque substance, which conjecture will be disposed to 

 consider as being probably the flesh of the animal, which 

 had been converted to adipocire, and subsequently mineral- 

 ized by impregnation with carbonate of lime assuming a 

 spathose state. 



There is, perhaps, no class of animals the remains of 

 which, found in a fossil state, are capable of being referred 

 to so many living analogues. According to Mr. Lacepede, 

 more than thirty Asiatic, African, and American species of 

 fishes have been found fossil in the neighbourhood of Verona. 



