SCIENTIFIC NEWS. J7 



*f the Russians, or the other large animal, much resem- 

 bling the Indian elephant, the remains of which are so 

 common in Siberia. These two gigantic creatures therefore 

 formerly inhabited together all the northern cap of our 

 globe. The destruction of these enormous races, and of 

 so many others, victims of the same catastrophe, cannot be 

 explained, till we are well acquainted with the strata in 

 which they are buried, as well as their nature and succes- 

 sion. 



Mr. Cuvier and Mr. Brongniart have endeavoured to Strata in the 

 study these in the neighbourhood of Paris. As far as they v . icimt y ° a " 

 have been able to penetrate into the earth round that capi- 

 tal, they have found it composed of various strata evidently 

 of different origin. The lowest part is a vast mass of chalk, 

 that reaches to England, and contains nothing but unknown 

 shells, several of which belong even to uwknown genera. 

 On this chalk rests a bed of potter's clay, containing no 

 organized body. This in several places is covered by lime- 

 stone, the hardest of which is used for building, and which 

 is full of shells, most of them of unknown species, but of 

 known genera, or approaching nearer than the preceding to 

 those that live in our present seas. Hills of gypsum are 

 scattered as if by accident sometimes on the clay, at others 

 on the limestone, and contain thousands of bones of land 

 animals entirely unknown, of which Mr. Cuvier has put to- 

 gether the skeletons, and established the characters. In 

 this gypsum, and the clay intermixed with it, or immedi- 

 ately covering it, there are no shells but fresh water ones: 

 but these are afterward covered with thick strata of sea 

 shells. A vast bed of sand, without any organized bodies, 

 crowns all our heights; and, what is most remarkable of 

 all, the most superficial stratum, that which covers the 

 whole, is mixed with fresh water shells alone. It is only in 

 the bottoms of valleys, or in cavities hollowed out of this su- 

 perficial stratum, that are found the bones of elephants and 

 other animals, the genus of which is known, but not the 

 species. 



From the observations of these gentlemen it appears, The land th^re 



that the sea, having long covered this countrv, and several !° n : covered 



& ° .•'■■•; by the sea, a$- 



times changed its nature and inhabitants, gave place to terward witfr 



fresh 



