



Ch. III.] 



SOLDANL— FORTIS.— TESTA. 



G5 



* 





',• 



* 



, * 



; 





most common canse assigned is that of ' the deluge. 5 This 

 conjecture, he says, even if the universality of the flood be 

 not called in question, is purely hypothetical. In his 

 opinion, fossil animals and testacea were, for the most part, 

 of unknown species ; and of such as were known, the living 

 analogues now belonged to southern latitudes. 



Soldani, 1780. — Soldani applied successfully his know- 

 ledge of zoology to illustrate the history of stratified masses. 

 He explained that microscopic testacea and zoophytes inha- 

 bited the depths of the Mediterranean ; and that the fossil 

 species were, in like manner, found in those deposits wherein 

 the fineness of their particles, and the absence of pebbles, 

 implied that they were accumulated in a deep sea, or far 

 from shore. This author first remarked the alternation of 

 marine and freshwater strata in the Paris basin.* 



Fortis — Testa, 1793. — A lively controversy arose between 

 Eortis and another Italian naturalist, Testa, concerning the 



fish 



Monte 



t 



great spirit and elegance, show that they were aware that a 

 large proportion of the Subapennine shells were identical 

 with living species, and some of them with species now living 

 in the torrid zone. Fortis proposed a somewhat fanciful 

 conjecture, that when the volcanos of the Yicentin were 

 burning, the waters of the Adriatic had a higher tempera- 



ture ; 



and 



in this manner, he said, the shells of warmer 



regions may once have peopled their own seas. But Testa 

 was disposed to think that these species of testacea were 

 still common to their own and to equinoctial seas : for many, 

 he said, once supposed to be confined to hotter regions, had 



Mediterranean 



+ 



ments made by that distinguished hy- 

 drographer, the late Admiral Smyth, on 

 + Lett, sui Pesci Fossfli di Bolca. the water within eight fathoms of the 



* Saggio orittogranco, &c. 1780, and 

 other Works. 



Milan, 1793. 



\ This argument of Testa has been 

 strengthened of late years by the dis- 

 covery, that dealers in shells had long 

 been in the habit of selling Mediterra- 

 nean species as shells of more southern 

 and distant latitudes, for the sake of 



price. It appears, 

 moreover, from several hundred experi- 



enhancing their 



surface, that the temperature of the 



Mediterranean is on an average 3i|° 



of Fahrenheit higher than the Western 



part of the Atlantic ocean ; an important 



fact, which in some degree may help to 



explain why many species are common 



to tropical latitudes and to the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



VOL. I. 



F 



