FOSSIL ELK or mELAND. 189 



One species only is known in tlie Carboniferous system of Eussia, the Fusulina cylindrica. 

 Jurassic or Oolitic formation . . . Genera 5 Species 20 



Cretaceous „ 34 „ 280 



Tertiary „ 56 „ 450 



Living in the present seas . . . . „ 68 „ 1,000 



Of these last, 575 species inhabit tropical seas, 350 the seas of temperate, and 75 the seas of 

 cold climates. 



XIII. Fossil Elk of Ireland, or Cervus megaceros. (Plate LXXI.) — The shell-marls of 

 Ireland contain in abundance the bones of an animal, which like the Dodo, was once contemporary 

 with the human species, but has long been extinct : the last individuals of the race were, in all 

 probability, exterminated by the early Celtic tribes. The remains of this noble creature 

 generally occur in the deposits of marl that underlie the peat-bogs, which are apparently, like 

 those of Scotland, the sites of ancient lakes or bays. In Curragh immense quantities of these 

 bones lie within a small area ; the skeletons appear to be entire, and are found with the skull 

 elevated, and the antlers thrown back on the shoulders, as if a small herd of these Elks had 

 sought refuge in the marshes, and had been engulfed in the morass, in the same manner as the 

 Mastodons of America. (See description of Plate LXXIV., ante, p. 167.) 



This creature far exceeded in magnitude any living species of elk or deer. The skeleton is 

 upwards often feet in height to the top of the skull, and the antlers are from ten to fourteen feet from 

 one extremity to the other. The fine perfect skeletons in the British Museum, College of Sur- 

 geons, and in the Museum at Edinburgh, render a particular description unnecessary. The bones 

 are generally well preserved, of a dark brown colour, with patches of blue phosphate of iron. In 

 some instances they are in so fresh a condition, that the hollows of the long bones contain marrow 

 having the appearance of fresh suet. Remains of this majestic animal have been found collocated 

 with ancient sepulchral urns, stone implements, and rude canoes, in such manner, as to leave no 

 doubt that this now extinct deer was coeval with the early human inhabitants of these Islands. 

 Its bones and antlers have been found at Walton, in Essex, associated with the remains of the 

 Mammoth, or fossil elephant.' 



XIV. Fossil Infusoria — Infusorial Earths. — In the note on Foraminifera some account is 

 given of various rocks composed of the fossil remains of those minute animals ; but the durable 

 relics of the yet more infinitesimal organisms designated by the terms Infusoria, or Infusorial 

 animalcules, form deposits of equal interest and importance. Strata of great extent and thickness 

 are wholly, or in great part, made up of innumerable layers, consisting of the aggregated siliceous 

 cases or shields of Infusoria : and similar structures are found to be the chief constituents of the 

 white earthy deposits of lakes, rivers, and basins of brackish water, in every part of the world. 



Slowly, imperceptibly, but incessantly, are the vital energies of the feeblest and minutest 

 animal and vegetable existences separating from the element in which they live, the most 

 enduring of mineral substances, silex — fabricating it into structures of the most exquisite forms 

 and sculpturing, and thus adding to the accumulations of countless ages, which make up the 

 sedimentary strata of the crust of the globe. 



In the " Medals of Creation " ' will be found a summary of what was then known as to the 

 formation and composition of many tertiary deposits which the indefatigable Ehrenberg, Dr. 

 Bailey, and other eminent observers, had carefully investigated and described. The five years 

 ' 'Wonders of Geology, p. 134. - lledals of Creation, toI. i. p. 211. 



