253 



thirty Asiatic, African, and American species of fishes, have been here 

 discovered. M. Fortis also observes, in a letter to M. Faujas, that the 

 approximation which he has been able to make of these fishes to the 

 figures of those of Otaheite, published by Broussonnet, has convinced 

 him, that it is absolutely in that distant sea that the actually living de- 

 scendants of the ancient generation, now found mummified in the quarry 

 of Vestena-Nova, are to be sought for: as it is in these same parts that 

 we find the originals of almost all the 'petrified shells of the mountains of 

 Verona and of Vicentino *. 



LETTER XVII. 



PARTS OF FISHES HEAD, EYES, JAWS, TEETH, PALATES, PRO- 



BOSCIDES, SCALES, BONES, &C. 



IT is sometimes difficult, when- separated from the parts with which 

 they were originally united, to refer the fossil remains of fishes to the real 

 situation which they held in the living animal, 6r to ascertain the offices 

 which they performed. In many of these instances we may, however, 

 derive considerable assistance from the examination of the analogous parts 

 in living animals. 



The heads of fishes are very frequently found among the Shepey fossils, 

 and have sometimes been supposed to bear a strong resemblance to known 

 species, as the pike, gurnard, &c. In some of these, an appearance 

 is observable, although rarely, which gives the idea of the eye of the ani- 



* Essai de Geologic, p 112. 



