59 



which these fossilized animals maintain towards each 

 other, they appear to have been combatants at the 

 very moment when the catastrophe occurred which 

 produced their mineralization* In the Museum of 

 the Garden of Plants at Paris, there is a large speci- 

 men of two fossil fish, which are supposed by many 

 to have been destroyed and covered with mineral 

 matter, when one of them was in the very act of 

 swallowing the other. Mr. Bake well, however, who 

 accurately examined this specimen, is of opinion, 

 that the two heads of the fish had been pressed to- 

 gether by the superincumbent weight. 



GENUS PARADOXIDES. Brongniart. 



The animals arranged under this generic name, in- 

 clude the organic remains described by Linne as En- 

 tomolithus paradoxus, and Brongniart has given the 

 specific appellation which the great Swedish natural- 

 istappliedto thesesingular animals, out of compliment 

 to him, though he considers it quite inappropriate. 

 The late Professor Dalman calls this genus Olenus, 

 and quotes Paradoxides as a synonyme, but the term 

 of Brongniart seems to have the priority, and there- 

 fore must be preferred. 



The animals belonging to the Paradoxides have the 

 body very much depressed, and the lateral much 

 wider than the middle lobe. 



The buckler is nearly semicircular, the cheeks are 

 destitute of eyes, and the front is marked with three 



