OF CREATION. 273 



foraminiferous shell, called Nummulite (from num- 

 mulus, a little piece of money), whose remains are 

 so incredibly abundant in some localities, that rocks 

 are made up of them, and which, although belonging 

 also to the secondary Fiff . } \ 9 Fiffm 120 



epoch, must be con- 

 sidered characteris- 

 tic of some older 

 tertiary beds. Other 

 smaller foramini- 

 ferous shells have NUMMULITES.* 

 built great masses of the limestone of this period. f 



Besides the numerous shells and other inverte- 

 brate remains, the older beds of this newest epoch 

 afford many very interesting fragments of fishes, of 

 reptiles, of birds, and even of quadrupeds. In order 

 to obtain a general view of the eocene fauna, we 

 must consider some of these a little in detail. 



The fishes naturally present themselves first for 

 investigation and description, and their remains, as 

 well in the London clay as at Monte Bolca in north 

 Italy, and in a remarkable deposit, probably of the 

 same age, in Asia Minor (Lebanon), are very numer- 

 ous. They are not, however, in all cases very well 

 preserved, and this is especially the case with re- 

 gard to those found in the tenacious blue clay of 

 the Thames valley, where there is frequently no- 

 thing to be obtained but a few bones of the head. 

 It is thus far more difficult to determine their ana- 

 logies than those of the older fishes, where we geiie- 



* Fig. 119 shows the external surface of the shell, and fig. 120 the 

 appearance of a section, the light parts being the chamber-walls, or septa, 

 f A great part of Paris is built with a limestone of this kind. 



N 



