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warrant a decision in these cases ; the specific, or at least the generic 

 characters, should be discoverable in the fossil specimen ; which is not 

 the case, at least, in the figure of the fossil fish considered by Mr. Jones 

 as a bream. The fossil also, above described, as being part of-a salmon> 

 Mr. Jones afterwards discovered to be the remains of a vegetable, arid 

 took the first opportunity to acknowledge his error. 



The paucity of fossil fish is attributed, by M. Faujas, to the quickness 

 with which fish are decomposed after death, and to the vast numbers 

 which are destroyed by the stronger devouring the weak. But these two 

 circumstances by no means account for this interesting fact. It is true, 

 that the flesh may, if exposed to the air, soon run into putrefaction ; but 

 even then, the bones in the spinous fishes, and the scales and spiculae, 

 would be left ; the two latter being, as has been observed by Mr. Hatchett, 

 true bony substances, containing much phosphate of lime, with a greater 

 proportion of the membranaceous part than in common bone. The 

 destructive wars between these animals must immediately be seen to 

 have no bearing on this particular fact; since, if the waters continued to 

 be well peopled, the number of fossils of this class would not be thereby 

 diminished. 



I should not have noticed the insufficiency of M. Faujas's argu- 

 ments, but from a fear lest they should have been- too easily admit- 

 ted, and the further consideration of this important fact too speedily 

 closed, I am the more anxious to prevent this, since I conceive that 

 the desired explanation may be more likely to be found in the circum- 

 stances under which the bed was formed, in which they have become 

 mineralized. 



The same writer conceives that the opinion of the fish of Vestena 

 Nova having been instantly killed (asphi.iies subitement), is supported by 



the position and the horizontal and tranquil situation in which they are 

 found : Essai de Geologic, p. 107. It may be sufficient, to show how lit- 

 tle reliance is to be placed on this reasoning, to observe, that the cele- 

 brated Werner has deduced the same inference from the opposite fact ; 

 he being of opinion, from the contorted aspect of the fish, in the bitumi- 



