XIV INTRODUCTION. 



precipitated, extends across England, from Yorkshire 

 on the north-east to Dorsetshire on the south-west, 

 with an average breadth of nearly thirty miles; and 

 from some land which formed the shore of this arm of 

 sea, were washed down the remains of small Insectivo- 

 rous and probably Marsupial quadrupeds, distinct in genus 

 and species from any now known in the world. With 

 these small Mammals there occur elytra of beetles, and 

 debris of Cycadea and other terrestrial plants. The cha- 

 racter of some of the vegetable fossils and of the as- 

 sociated shells, as the Trigoni<e for example, and the 

 great abundance in the oolitic ocean of fishes, whose nearest 

 living analogue is the Port-Jackson Shark (Cestraciori), 

 recall mahy of the characteristic features of actual organic 

 life in Australia. In contemplating, however, the frail and 

 scanty but precious evidence of the ancient oolitic Insecti- 

 vora, we naturally ask, could this link of the Mammalian 

 chain of Being have existed detached and insulated ? Were 

 there then no representatives of carnivorous Thylacines 

 and Dasyures to enjoy life at the expense of the little 

 quick-breeding Phascolotheres and Amphitheres 2 We can 

 scarcely resist the latent conviction of such an association, 

 notwithstanding the absence of direct proof, since we find 

 so many indications of coeval conditions, apparently favour- 

 able for the development of all forms of organic life : and 

 it is plain, from the scarce and fragmentary parts of the 

 skeletons of the hitherto discovered Stonesfield Mammalia, 

 that many circumstances concurred to destroy or conceal 

 such evidences. 



The non-discovery of the remains of marine Mammalia 

 is more conclusive as to their non-existence. Had Whales, 

 Grampuses, Porpoises, or Manatees existed in the oolitic 

 ocean, it is highly improbable that every trace of their 



