130 N Al i B \L BI8T0BI 01 



the currents and mods continuing the encroachment on the 

 coast, they have in tome places advanced two . ;iiina 



century. 



But the Spani-h peninsula, forming a plateau the mo I 



rated of Europe, nn.ro than l'OOO feet ahove the ocean, without 

 an existing volcanic crater on its surface, is nevertheless sub- 

 ject to \i particularly on the side of the 



Atlantic. Geologically, as i ossiferous breccias, the 



south point of the peninsula reproduo I ratifi- 



cation which occurs ahout Genoa, and is n peati d in the islands 



on the coast of Dalmatia. They have all compressed, bet 

 beds of limestone, innumerable remains of mammals, held in a 

 matrix much harder than the bones themselves. In zoolo 

 affinity, Spain ami a considerable portion of the 

 terranean islands boar an African rather than an Eur^ 



I : and the similarity was much mi t in early 



times. Spain, having no deltas, with only B ils formed 



by the Tagus, Ebro, and Llobrega, is surrounded on three 

 sides by very deep seas, close up to the shore. 



Further eastward, within the Mediterranean, the coast of 

 France presents a totally different aspect ; for the whole extent 

 of the shores, with little exception, is low, belted on the sea- 

 side by a shingly beach, some hundred yards in breadth, and 

 having behind it salt water lagoons a mile or more in diameter, 

 but only a few feet deep. This breakwater of shingle extends 

 to near Aigues Mortes, and the delta of the Rhone; for that 

 river has evidently supplied the materials for it. At some 

 distance, facing the Mediterranean, a chain of lofty hills con- 

 tains lavas and extinct craters, particularly about Nismes and 

 Montpellier, and again in the department of the Aude, where 

 fossiliferous caverns exist, which will be noticed in the sequel. 

 The hills trend on one side towards the eastern Pyrenees, and 

 on the other, ascending the river course of the Rhone, become 

 connected with the Alps ; and, assuming the name of Vogesians, 

 display basaltic formations and craters, that connect them with 



