LYELL. 347 



were of kinds now living close by in the sea, but 

 others of kinds now living within the arctic circle. 

 " The shells show that Snowdon and all the highest 

 hills which are in the neighbourhood of Moel 

 Tryfaen were mere islands in the sea at a com- 

 paratively late period, or when these living molluscs 

 were flourishing." 



The researches of Lyell and Dawson in Nova 

 Scotia have been noticed, and it is interesting to 

 know that they were rewarded by the discovery of 

 an air-breathing mollusc, and of several small 

 amphibians of the age of the coal period, in the 

 hollow of a stump of a tree, which dated back to 

 that very ancient time. After the death of his 

 friend Murchison, although the effects of age and 

 a life of hard study were not unfelt, Lyell followed 

 with great care the researches of Dr. Hicks relating 

 to the oldest rocks of England. Lyell was in- 

 tensely interested at the discovery of highly 

 organized invertebrate animals in sandstones and 

 shales, which hitherto had only yielded some 

 doubtful worm tracks and impressions of plants, 

 and he recognized the truth that no evidences of 

 the beginning of living things were presented to 

 the geologist. The researches of Carpenter, 

 Thomson, and Agassiz concerning the natural 

 philosophy and natural history of the deep sea 

 were gratefully acknowledged by Lyell, as most 

 important contributions to science, and the author 

 of this memoir has a lively remembrance of 

 Sir Charles's intense excitement when the news 



