278 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



ed, and has rested upon them during a long 

 period of time. 



Have the countries inundated by it at this pe- 

 riod heen of great extent ? This is a question 

 which the examination of those ancient deposits 

 formed in their lakes do not enable us to answer. 



To this period I refer the gypsum beds of Pa- 

 ris and those of Aix, several quarries of marly 

 stones, and the molasse sandstones, at least those 

 of the south of France. I am of opinion that we 

 should also refer to it the portions of the molasse 

 sandstones of Switzerland, and of the lignites of 

 Liguria and Alsace, in which quadrupeds are 

 found of the families enumerated above ; but I do 

 not find that any of these animals have been also 

 found in other countries. The fossil bones of 

 Germany, England, and Italy, are all either older 

 or newer than those of which we have been speak- 

 ing, and belong either to those ancient races of 

 reptiles of the juraic and copper- slate formations, 

 or to the deposits of the last universal inundation, 

 the diluvial formations. 



We are, therefore, authorised to believe, until 

 the contrary be proved, that at the period when 

 these numerous pachyderm ata lived, the globe 

 had only presented for their habitation a small 

 number of plains sufficiently fertile for them to 

 multiply there, and that perhaps these plains were 

 insulated regions, separated by pretty large spaces 



