THE EARTH. 3!* 



And this is the opinion Mr Buffon has so strenuously endeav- 

 oured to maintain ; having given specious reasons to prove, that 

 Kuch shells were laid in the beds where they are now found, n(,t 

 only before the deluge, but even antecedent to the formation of 



Cuvier describes 20 or more species of fossil Camivora, including several 

 mall species from the quarries of Mont-martre. 

 Herbivorous Quadrupeds occupy the same geological position with tha 

 foregoing fossil Mammalia, The larger animals of this class are found tr 

 possess anatomical differences from those now existing. They are subdivided 

 Into the following orders : — Pachydermata, thick-skinned herbivorous quad- 

 rupeds, having more than two toes to the foot, and incisive teeth in both 

 aivs. The Kirkdale cave has furnished bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, 

 hippopotamus, and horse. Bones of the elephant or mammoth are among 

 the most abundant in everj' part of the globe. We have derived numerous 

 specimens from Suffolk and Norfolk. The Mastodon, although figured in 

 some works on English geology, does not appear to have been authenticated 

 as a British fossil animal. The peculiar structure of the teeth and bones of 

 these animals has been fully illustrated in various scientific publications. An 

 extinct quadruped of this order, named by Cuvier Anoplotherium, found in 

 the plaster quarries of Paris, appears in a single instance to have been traced 

 in the lower fresh-water beds of the Isle of Wight. See Plate 111. for sup- 

 posed outlines of this extinct quadruped ; also for skeleton figure of the 

 great Mastodon. Plate II. fig. 7 represents molar tooth of Rhinoceros, 

 one third size ; fig. 8 worn molar tooth of Hippopotamus. Nearly forty 

 species of extinct Pachydermata are found in the upper deposits of the 

 Paris environs. Among them are numerous skeletons resembling tapirs 

 and camels, some other species of rhinoceroses and the new genus Pr.l- 

 eeotheria, and three or four others. Bones of the horse are found in 

 similar situations to the foregoing, and were therefore contemporan. 

 eous with those extinct Pachydermata. Remains of the ox, the an- 

 rochs or bison, and several species of deer, were observed in the cave 

 of Kirkdale, and they occur, more or less, in all the great diluvial 

 deposits of this country, and in the valleys through which our great 

 rivers pass. Skulls of the Bos Urus at Walton Naze, Woolwich, Ilford, 

 fee. The great fossil elk of Ireland is found in peat bogs and gravel 

 beds. Some of thf se skeletons have been met with, although rarely, in 

 England, at Walton and in Holderness. Cervus Elaphus, or red deer; 

 common in diluvial gravel of the eastern counties. Cervus Dama, or fallow 

 deer ; traced occasionally in similar situations. Cervus Capreolus, or ante- 

 lope J near Ipswich, and at Roydon, Norfolk. — Rodentia or Gnawers : Of 

 this order the Kirkdale cave alone yielded to the researches of Dr Buckland 

 (he genera hare, rabbit, rat, water-rat, and mouse. Of Quadrumanoiis 

 animals there exist no known traces in this or any other part of the globe, 

 either of the ape, monkey, or the human species. In alluvial deposits, calcare- 

 ous incrustations, peat formations, mines, and volcanic debris, human bonea 

 and their accompaniments have frequently been discovered, bearing evidence 

 of very high antiquity ; but they are all referable to more recent times than 

 the deluge, and may be explained by similar events of ordinary occurrence. 

 " Ko works of art, or other indications of the former existence of iran, oreur 



n 2 



