236 Dr. MunteWs Isle of Wight. 



u In the basins and depressions formed by the submerged por- 

 tions of the cretaceous strata, new sediments began to take place ; 

 the sea which deposited them teeming with marine animals, dis- 

 tinct from those of the preexisting ocean. Localintrusions of 

 freshwater deposits, abounding in the spoils of the land and its 

 inhabitants, denote the existence of islands or continents, tenant- 

 ed by mammalia allied to the tapir, elephant, rhinoceros, horse, 

 deer, &c. ; and the vegetable remains consisting of palms and 

 dicotyledonous trees, indicate an approach to the flora of the 

 warm regions of the south of Europe. A few reptiles, princi- 

 pally of the alligator and crocodilian types, and lizards of small 

 size, appear as the representatives of the swarms of colossal ovip- 

 arous quadrupeds of the previous epochs. 



" V. The Pre-historic Epoch. — From the most recent tertiary 



occur 



seem to have always been contemporary with the human race, 

 the transition is imperceptible. But elevatory movements, and 

 subsidences, more or less general, appear to have continually taken 

 place, by which the relative position of the land and sea was 

 subjected to repeated oscillation. During this period, large 

 pachyderms, as the mammoth, mastodon, hippopotamus, rhino- 

 ceros, &c. — several species of horse — gigantic elks and deer 

 and many carnivora. as the lion, tiger, bear, hyena, &c. — inhab- 

 ited the European continent and islands. While this fauna pre- 

 vailed, a succession of terrestrial disturbances occurred, by which 

 the physical configuration of the land was materially changed. 

 England and its islands were separated from the continent ; and 

 to this epoch is probably referable the formation of the lines of 

 elevation, that traverse the districts over which our observations 

 have extended. 



« Lastly.— Man took possession of the land, and such of the 

 large mammalia as had survived the preceding geological revolu- 

 tions, were either exterminated by his agency, or reduced to a 

 domesticated state. Subsequently to the occupation of these 

 islands by the aboriginal tribes, the country has undergone no 

 important physical mutations. The usual effects of the atmo- 

 sphere, the wasting of the shores by the encroachments of the 

 sea, the erosion of the land by streams and rivers, the silting up 

 of valleys, and the formation of deltas, are apparently the only 

 terrestrial changes to which England and its islands have been 

 subjected during the historic ages. 



" Corollary.— From this examination of the geological phe- 

 nomena of the southeast of England, we learn that at a perio 

 incalculably remote, there existed in the northern hemisphere a 

 island or continent, possessing a climate of such a temperature. 



and 



pal 



