OF CREATION. 



277 



unrepresented. The whole of the salmon family as 

 now known is absent; and of the numerous important 

 and useful varieties of the cod only four species have 

 been met with, but few specimens of which have 

 yet been discovered. On the other hand, a tropical 

 family nearly allied to the salmon (the Characida) 

 is represented by one or two species of large size ; 

 and there are others, belonging to a family of which 

 several genera are now living in the tropical seas of 

 Asia, where these animals dart about from place to 

 place with restless activity, and are remarkable above 

 all the other fishes for their singular forms and bril- 

 liant play of colours. It is hardly possible to imagine 

 anything more strange in appearance than the fossil 

 species of these animals, although the recent forms 

 are sometimes sufficiently grotesque. One extinct 

 genus, for instance, is remarkable for having a fin 

 rising like an immense mast from behind the head 

 to a height far greater than the length of the body, 

 a corresponding sail extending from this to the tail, 

 while there are two extremely slender though nearly 

 equally long fins on the belly. Another is, if possi- 

 ble, more singular and preposterous, the height of 

 the body and fins together being three times as much 

 as the whole length of the animal. These fishes 

 are chiefly met with in the Monte Bolca beds of 

 north Italy. From all this it appears extremely 

 probable that the older tertiary fishes existed under 

 different climatal conditions from those which obtain 

 at the present day on the coasts of Europe ; a con- 

 clusion confirming that arrived at by the examination 

 of the fruits and seeds drifted down and deposited 

 in the isle of Sheppey. 



