2 1 o Physical Geography. 



hills, were much older than the Oolitic series, then lay 

 buried deep beneath the uppermost Oolitic strata, and 

 all the ground between Wales and the high tracts of 

 the North of England formed part of the vast plain 

 that bordered the river ; while far away, on the north, 

 rose the majestic mountains which we now call the 

 Highlands of Scotland, then much higher than now, 

 for ever since that time they have been undergoing 

 waste and degradation. We have probably no actual 

 knowledge of the mountain vegetation of the period, 

 but on the flats by the river there were Equisetums in 

 the marshes, and ferns, coniferous trees, Zamias, and 

 Cycas on the drier ground ; crocodiles, turtles, and fish, 

 swarmed in the waters ; small marsupial mammals lived 

 upon the flats, along with great reptiles, the Iguanodon, 

 Hylceosaurus, and the gigantic Megalosaurus, while 

 the winged Pterodactyle preyed on the insects that 

 flitted through the air of a climate, probably as warm 

 as that of the Delta of the Granges. 



How far to the west this old flat land spread no man 

 can tell, but I have no doubt that Wales stood in the 

 midst of it, for the Oolites passed out on the south 

 through the area of what is now Bristol Channel, and 

 on the north across the country now occupied by the 

 estuaries of the Mersey and the Dee, and it is also 

 very likely that at that period the whole of Ireland 

 may have formed part of that old land. On the east 

 our territory was undoubtedly joined to a great continent, 

 which, after undergoing many revolutions, is now modern 

 Europe, but it is hard to discover the details of its physical 

 geography. Of this, however, we are sure, that the Scan- 

 dinavian mountains were then loftier than at present, for 

 they are certainly of older date than the deposition of the 

 Old Ked Sandstone, and probably older than the Upper 



