:220 Review of ^'' Outlines of the ' 



assemblage is thus noticed by the writers of the work be- 

 fore us: 



" If the calcareous slate of Stonesfield be correctly assign- 

 ed to this part of the series, (which is rendered still more 

 probable by the occurrence of the same teeth and palates 

 in both instances,) we here find the only known instance 

 in which the remains of birds and terrestrial animals have 

 been found in beds of antiquity at all approaching to these; 

 they here occur mingled with winded insects, amphibia, 

 sea shells, and vegetables, presenting at once the most in- 

 teresting and difficult of problems connected with the dis- 

 tribution of organic remains." — p. 207. • 



"We must account for the presence of the Didelphys, 

 birds, and coleopterous insects, in the same manner as we 

 do for the wood and remains of land vegetables, not unfre- 

 quent in the strata: the amphibia may have belonged to 

 species principally marine. It is evident from peculiarities 

 in their structure, that many of the fossil animals, generally 

 resembling the amphibia, lived entirely or almost so in the 

 sea, and were to the now existing amphibia what the ceta- 

 cea are to mammalia." — p. 209. 



Lias. — This rock lies immediately below the Oolites, 

 and is made up of thick, argillaceous deposites, in which 

 are placed limestone beds, increasing in frequency, in de- 

 scending, and presenting at length " a series of thin stony 

 beds separated by narrow argillaceous partings" — " the pe- 

 culiar aspect which characterizes the lias." The beds of 

 this formation are nearly horizontal, and the organic re- 

 mains unusualy interesting. More vertebral animals are 

 found imbedded in it, than in any other English formation, 

 excepting the Stonesfield slate. Among these, are two re- 

 mains of extinct genera of marme Lacertce, whose osteology 

 presents new and interesting links in the chain of animated 

 nature. Two or three species of a singular animal, denom- 

 inated Ichthyosaurus, or fish-like lacerta, and of another- 

 peculiar genus, called Plesiosaurus, are found in the lias. 

 It furnishes also the Turtle, several species of fish, one or 

 two Crustacea, several Moiluscse, numerous Testacea, 

 Echini, Encrini, Pentacrini, Corals, fossil wood, ferns, 

 flags, &c. 



It may be doubted whether the Oolites and lias series oc- 

 cur in North America. 



