FOSSIL REMAINS. 



still more rarely. They are generally found in the 

 states of sulphurets or carbonates. The sulphnrcts 

 and carbonates of iron are chiefly found entering into 

 the composition of vegetable remains. Ligneous 

 fossils of tliis kind exhibit the remarkable circum- 

 stance that although the texture of the wood appears 

 unchanged, it.s substance has been so intersected by 

 crystallisations that on decomposition it is resolved 

 into an impalpable efflorescence. Those specimens 

 of wood which have been mineralised by copper are 

 frequently exceedingly beautiful, from the brilliant 

 colours of the malachite which enters into their com- 

 position. Galena or sulphuret of lead has also been 

 found in fossil wood, and blende or sulphuret of zinc, 

 with quartz crystals investing fossil shells. Silver has 

 been said to exist in a fossil having the appearance of 

 ears of corn, found in the mines of Frankenberg in 

 Hesse. Many fossils are also found either entirely 

 unchanged, or very little altered, from their original 

 state or condition. Shells, bones, teeth, and vege- 

 tables of various kinds, are to be met with in some 

 alluvial deposits scarcely changed, and the remains of 

 quadrupeds have been found well preserved in the ice 

 of the polar circle. In limestone and other solid rocks 

 shells are sometimes found in a nearly unaltered state. 

 Ammonites unchanged and retaining all their pearly 

 lustre, and resplendent tints of the most beautiful 

 colours, are found in the splendid marble of Ca- 

 rinthia. Bones and shells occur in alluvial soils in 

 a dry or fragile state, occasioned by the loss of their 

 animal matter, this being the only change they have 

 undergone. In fossil fishes we sometimes find not 

 only the bones, but also the soft parts, and even the 

 scales, more or less perfectly preserved, although a 

 change of substance has of'course taken place. Fossil 

 vegetables occur either nearly unaltered or more or 

 less bituminised or carbonised, in alluvial strata, in 

 the brown coal formation, and also in some sandstones. 

 Sometimes the organic body is merely coated or en- 

 crusted with the mineral matter, and but very slightly 

 impregnated with it. This is most frequently the 

 case with those found in the calc tuffa or calc sinter. 



In giving a summary of fossil remains, we shall 

 commence with the vegetable kingdom, and thence 

 proceed with the lowest in the series of animated 

 beings, endeavouring as briefly as possible to give an 

 account of the most interesting objects in each division. 



Vegetable remains occur in vast abundance and in 

 great variety in different formations, particularly in 

 the coal formation. Some of these are exceedingly 

 well preserved, and thus afford every facility for the 

 determination of their characters, whilst others are so 

 much changed as to render it nearly impossible to 

 make out the classes and orders to which they belong. 

 In the plates of FOSSIL REMAINS in this work, repre- 

 sentations of several impressions of fossil vegetables 

 are given, principally ferns from the coal formation ; 

 dicy were copied from original subjects, and exem- 

 plify the general character of these fossils in a very 

 striking manner. It is scarcely possible by descrip- 

 tion to succeed in an attempt to give an idea of the 

 beauty and variety of the figures which are displayed 

 on the surface of many of these fossils, many of which 

 are supposed to owe their markings to the bark of 

 different trees of antediluvian existence, and of which 

 no trace is to be found at the present day. Some 

 are ornamented by regularly-arranged straight ribs 

 disposed longitudinally or transversely over their 

 whole surface ; others, by the alternate contact and 



receding of gently waving lines forming areas, regu- 

 larly but most singularly varying in their form?, and 

 having, in their centres, tubercles and depressions, 

 from which spines or bristles, in all probability, pro- 

 ceeded ; others again exhibit surfaces apparently 

 covered with scales, disposed in an imbricated manner, 

 and frequently in quincunx order. Impressions of 

 leaves occur in rocks of different descriptions, many 

 of which resemble those of plants of the present day. 

 In some instances beautiful specimens of aster-like 

 flowers have been met with, and Schlotheim describes 

 the impressions of a flower resembling a ranunculus 

 from a metalliferous bed, near Frankenberg in Hessia ; 

 also impressions of an aquatic ranunculus or trollius 

 in the limestone of CEuigen. Innumerable seeds, 

 seed-vessels, c., have been found in the blue clay of 

 the Isle of Sheppy in v ,hc state of pyrites. Most of 

 these belong to unknown plants, and the existing 

 plants to which the others seem to approach are, 

 generally speaking, those of warmer climates. They 

 also occur in other formations, but usually in such a 

 state as to render it almost impossible to ascertain the 

 plant to which they belong. 



The most simple of all the animal productions 

 hitherto found in a fossil state are, the alcyonia and 

 sponges. It has indeed beei. conjectured that the 

 primitive seas may have swarmed with innumerable 

 animals of the medusa tribe, whose bodies being en- 

 tirely composed ot a pulp or jelly, could not by any 

 means have been preserved, although their decay 

 may have had the effect of producing that peculiar 

 fetid odour which is emitted by some limestones. 

 The alcyonia are most commonly found impregnated 

 with flint. Sponges are also abundant in the fossil 

 state, and occur in great plenty in the flint of the 

 chalk formation, and also in the chalk itself. Very 

 many of those habitations of Polypi, commonly called 

 corals, are found in a fossil state, and frequently in 

 the most beautiful state of preservation. Several ge- 

 nera, as the astraa, madrepora, &c., are met with in 

 the recent and fossil state, while others, as the cyclo- 

 lites, turbinolia, favosites, c., occur in the fossil state 

 alone. In some formations they are met with in the 

 greatest abundance, particularly in that part of the 

 oolitic strata which, from this circumstance, is called 

 the coral rag. 



Of the next class, the radiata, very numerous and 

 beautiful specimens occur. The crinoidea abound in 

 many strata, and although found in vast abundance 

 are scarcely to be met with in the recent state, a cir- 

 cumstance which shows the exceeding difference be- 

 tween the animal state of the former world and the 

 present period. Much doubt remained as to the true 

 place of these animals, until the excellent work of the 

 late Mr. Miller removed all doubts as to their correct 

 situation in the system. All those remains called 

 entrochites and encrinites by former authors belong 

 this class. The animals of the asterias, or star-fish 

 family, from the extreme delicacy and fragile nature 

 of their structure, speedily decay, and hence are not 

 common in the fossil state. Of the echini specimens 

 occur exhibiting very great variety of form ; and 

 these, although not met with in the older secondary 

 rocks, are extremely abundant in the newer, particu- 

 larly in the chalk. Some of the species resemble 

 those at present met with in our seas, but none of 

 them, as far as can be ascertained, are absolutely iden- 

 tical with the recent ones. In the plates of FOSSIL 

 REMAINS figures are civen of two vcrv btamitui 



