6fcANIC REMAINS. '299 



of the animal of the Belemnite, a characteristic fossil of the 

 Oolitic group, have been thus preserved in indurated clays, and of 

 the cuttle-fish in limestones. The delicate impressions of plants 

 of the various epochs stamped in the sandstones, shales, coals, 

 and chalks, are presented with the utmost fidelity. The><eilicious 

 shells of animalcules are every where abundant; in our own coun- 

 try whole districts are composed of them; in Virginia, New Jer- 

 sey, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Iowa, and prob" 

 ably every state of the Union, their remains are more or less 

 common. In a previous chapter we have admired the construe- 1 

 tions of the coral-animal, and considered with a feeling of -aston- 

 ishment and wonder, the immense importance of the labors of so 

 apparently helpless and insignificant a being; but what shall we 

 say to the beds of rocks, composed of the remains of animalcules 

 invisible to the eye ? yet of such are the pyramids built ! Not 

 only are the carapaces, or shelly coverings, of these minute ani- 

 mals preserved, but in many instances the fleshy parts of certain 

 minute chambered shells are admirably preserved, imbedded in 

 the heart of a flint nodule, and one familiar with such appearan- 

 ces, can in the merest fragment of flint, detect various organic 

 bodies. The variety of limestone called encrinital marble, is 

 composed almost wholly of a peculiar stony animal called the 

 Encrinite. and particularly abundant in the carboniferous, or 

 mountain limestone, of the carboniferous group. A specimen 

 from the Helderbergh Mountains near Albany, lies before us, 

 compact and firm as though originally composed of crystaline 

 materials. The ordinary observer can form but little idea of the 

 amount of organic remains distributed throughout the various 

 strata. 



In the following chapters we shall consider in order the three 

 great epochs, or periods of the earth's existence as demonstrated 

 from the study of fossil animal and vegetable remains. The first 

 epoch commences with the granitic period, or period antecedent 

 to the introduction of life, and ends with the carboniferous or 

 great coal formation. The second period commences with the 

 new red sandstone, and ends with the cretaceous or chalk system . 

 The third and last period embraces what are termed the tertiary 



