248 



Europe only, but of Asia, the Indian Ocean, the South Sea, Africa, 

 North and South America ; and, in addition to these, some few of fresh 

 water. 



M. Bozza, the original proprietor of the soil, speaking of his collection, 

 in a paper published by him, says : " In my cabinet, which contained 

 upwards of six hundred fish of different sizes, all ox' "acted from Bolca, 

 there are more than one hundred whose kinds are known, which differ 

 from each other in genus and species, and many others besides, to which 

 similar living ones have not yet been discovered." In another passage he adds : 

 " The first decade of fish published by M. Broussonet, has ascertained 

 to us, that many of these found at Bolca are natives of the South Sea 

 of these I have four, which agree exactly in form, in proportions, and in 

 fins, with four described by M. Broussonet, which are peculiar to the 

 sea of Otaheite, which are the polynemus plebeius, or Emoi of the Otahei- 

 teans ; the Gobius striatus, which they call Jaipoa ; the Chatodon triostegus t 

 and the Gobius oscellaris." These perfectly correspond with the fish given 

 by Sir Joseph Banks to M. Broussonet. * 



The stone has been generally termed a marie or marley schist. It is 

 a whitish, yellowish, or bluish grey, and in general yields easily to the 

 knife, emitting at the same time, a peculiar fetid smell, differing consi- 

 derably from the smell of the common lapis suillus. 



The forms of the fishes are well defined, and the harder parts are 

 remarkably well expressed. The dark brown matter composing these 

 fish remains distinct, and may be picked off from the stone, and projects 

 in proportion to the thickness of each part in its natural state. It is hard, 

 brittle, and rather glossy, through its substance, except in some of the 

 grosser bones, such as the joints of the vertebrae; which, though of this 

 appearance externally, are found, when broken, to consist internally of 

 laminar crystallized calcareous spar. 



Mr. Gray don proposes a very ingenious explanation of the phenomena 

 yielded by the fish of Monte Bolca and their surrounding matrix. He sup- 



