174 THE PALMS OF THE ANCIENT WOnLD. 



indubitable proof of the following changes : — 

 First and lowermost is the Portland stone, 

 ■which was evidently formed by the accumu- 

 lation of calcareous sediment at the bottom of 

 the sea. This at length rose out of the sea and 

 became dry land, was covered witrli soil, and in 

 due time gave support to a forest of trees. Of 

 this second stage we have the evidence in the 

 vegetable soil still remaining, and in the very 

 numerous remains of trees, many standing 

 upright as when growing. Third : This level 

 of the land on which this forest grew became 

 depressed, and formed a hollow, wherein existed 

 a fresh water lake, indicated by the limestone 

 and the peculiar shells embedded in it, which 

 snrmount the " dirt bed." Fourth: The whole 

 became again covered by the ocean, and was 

 again elevated above the waters, and by some 

 subterranean convulsion the originally hori- 

 zontal beds have been tilted till they lie at an 

 angle of nearly 45°. Such examples might be 

 multiplied to a large amoimt. 



It is evident that beds or strata formed in 

 the manner above described would, in all pro- 

 bability, contain the remains of fishes, shells, 

 corals, etc. The bones of fishes and cetaceans, 

 and the shellsof the mollusca, would, from their 

 firm and calcareous structure, resist decay for 



