E C 



[ 158] 



E C 



duction of man will be called 

 recent. The European strata may 

 be referred to four successive periods, 

 each characterised by containing a 

 very different proportion of fossil 

 shells of recent species. These 

 four periods will be called, Newer 

 Pliocene, Older Pliocene, Miocene, 

 and Eocene. In the older groups 

 we find an extremely small number 

 of fossils identifiable with species 

 now living ; but as we approach 

 the superior and newer sets, we 

 find the traces of recent testacea in 

 abundance. The latest of the four 

 periods before alluded to, is that 

 which immediately preceded the re- 

 cent era. To this more modern period 

 may be referred a portion of the 

 strata of Sicily, the district round 

 Naples, and several others. They 

 are characterised by a great pre- 

 ponderance of fossil shells referable 

 to species still living, and may be 

 called the Newer Pliocene strata. 



Out of 226 fossil species brought 

 from beds belonging to this di- 

 vision, M. Deshayes found that not 

 fewer than 216 were of species still 

 living, ten only being of extinct or 

 unknown species. Nevertheless, 

 the antiquity of some Newer Plio- 

 cene strata of Sicily, as contrasted 

 with our most remote historical 

 eras, must be very great, embracing 

 perhaps myriads of years. There 

 are no data for supposing that there 

 is any break, or strongly marked 

 line of demarcation, between the 

 strata of this and the recent epoch ; 

 but, on the contrary, the monu- 

 ments of the one seem to pass 

 insensibly into those of the other. 



The Older Pliocene strata contain 

 among their fossil shells a large pro- 

 portion of recent species, amounting 

 to nearly one-half. Thus out of 

 569 species examined from Older 

 Pliocene strata in Italy, 238 were 

 found to be still belonging to living, 

 and 331 to extinct, or unknown, 

 species. 



The next division of the marine 

 formations of the tertiary period is 

 the Miocene, from fieiwv, minor, 

 and Kaivos, recens. In this division 

 a small minority, less than eighteen 

 per centum, of fossil shells being 

 referable to living species. From 

 an examination of 1021 shells of 

 the Miocene period, M. Deshayes 

 found 1 76 only to be recent. As 

 there are some fossil species which 

 are exclusively confined to the 

 Pliocene, so are there many shells 

 equally characteristic of the Miocene 

 period. The Miocene strata are 

 largely developed in Touraine, and 

 in the South of France, near Bour- 

 deaux ; in Piedmont ; in the basin 

 of Vienna, and other localities. 



The oldest division of the marine 

 formations of the tertiary period is 

 the Eocene, the derivation of which 

 term is given at the commencement 

 of this article. To this era the 

 formations first called tertiary, of 

 the Paris and London basins, are 

 referrible. The total number of 

 fossil shells of this period known 

 when the tables of M. Deshayes 

 were constructed, was 1238, of 

 which number 42 only are living 

 species, being at the rate of three 

 and a half per centum. Of fossil 

 species, not known as recent, forty- 

 two were found to be common to 

 the Eocene and Miocene epochs. 

 Of the present geographical distri- 

 bution of those recent species which 

 are found fossil, in formations of 

 such high antiquity as those of the 

 London and Paris basins, there is 

 much of great interest and import- 

 ance. Of the forty-two Eocene 

 species, which occur fossil in Eng- 

 land, France, and Belgium, and 

 which are still living, about one- 

 half now inhabit the seas within, 

 or near the tropics, and almost all 

 the rest are inhabitants of the more 

 Southern parts of Europe. 



The heat of European latitudes 

 during the Eocene period, does not 



