18 



in great variety ; with teeth and bones of the horse, dog, sheep, 

 ox, and hog, differing but little, if at all, from those belong- 

 ing to our present domestic animals. Pieces of pottery, too, 

 have been found, together with stone hatchets, all in the same 

 bed, almost identical in their character with similar remains 

 found some years since, near Abbeville, in France. There 

 have also been found one or two human bones, though the evi- 

 dence on this point is somewhat defective. 



This strange collection, this miniature sepulchre of the ages, 

 where animals extinct sleep side by side with others, the an- 

 cestors, perhaps, of our daily companions ; where men, beasts, 

 reptiles, and fishes would seem to have found a common grave, 

 — these fossils occur in the postpliocene strata. 



In a heap of the rocks, representing, perhaps, a couple of 

 cords, I found fragments of deers' horns, perfect sharks' teeth, 

 and numerous other fossils of more or less interest. In an- 

 swer to the question, What is the history of this great sea- 

 basin ? I have little to say, as nothing is positively known 

 regarding it. All rests upon conjecture, and of the hypotheses 

 which have been presented some are so preposterous as to be 

 unworthy of mention. That vast numbers of marine and 

 land animals have in past ages been here entombed does not 

 admit of a doubt. The evidence upon this point is conclusive. 

 It may have been for some reason very enticing foraging 

 ground for the two classes of animal life, and here they found 

 common graves. It could not have been by any sudden 

 entombment, as it is not probable that such immense numbers 

 could have been congregated at any one time. The burials 

 must have extended over great epochs, and those very far in 

 the past. 



The reck nodules holding the phosphates are detached 



