56 THE Oil Y OF THE EA11TH. 



sil bones belong to them, or to a species that is 

 now lost. As, on the other hand, we are very 

 far from being acquainted with all the testa- 

 ceous animals and fishes which inhabit the sea, 

 and as we are still probably ignorant of the 

 greater number of those which live in deep water, 

 it is impossible to know with certainty, whether 

 a species which occurs in a fossil state, may not 

 still exist somewhere alive. And hence, we see 

 naturalists persisting in giving the name of pela- 

 gic shells, that is to say, shells inhabiting the 

 open sea, to the belemnites, cornua-ammonis, and 

 other testaceous remains, which have hitherto 

 been found only in the older strata; meaning 

 by this, that if they have not yet been discovered 

 in a living state, it is because they inhabit the 

 depths of the sea, far beyond the reach of our 

 nets. 



Small probability of discovering New Species of 

 large Quadrupeds. 



Naturalists, certainly, have not yet explored all 

 the continents, nor do they even know all the 

 quadrupeds which inhabit the countries that they 

 have explored. New species of this class are dis- 

 covered from time to time ; and those who have 

 not examined with attention all the circum- 

 stances belonging to these discoveries, might also 

 imagine that the unknown quadrupeds, whose 



