JO FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



authority of the Baron himself, who has examined it twice, and 

 the second time pronounced it to have been mammiferous, like 

 an opossum , but of an extinct genus, and differing from all 

 carnivorous mammalia in having ten teeth in a series in the 

 lower jaw. 



It is right, however, to remark here, that some controversy 

 has arisen respecting the exact position of this calcareous slate 

 in the minor subdivisions of the oolitic series at Stonesfield. 

 To enter into the merits of this controversy would be quite 

 beside our purpose ; and, though we most strongly lean to the 

 belief that the Doctor is justified in his conclusions, it would 

 be presumptuous in humble compilers like ourselves, to pro- 

 nounce decisively on so important a question. 



Waiving this exception, if it be one, we find no bones of ter- 

 restrial mammalia until we come to the strata deposited above 

 the last-mentioned formation of shelly limestone. There we 

 first discover them, and there is a remarkable succession 

 among the species. The debris of genera unknown at the 

 present day, of anoplotheria, of palaeotheria, found in the 

 fresh-water formation, are the first which exhibit themselves 

 above the shelly limestone. With those we find some lost 

 species of known genera, oviparous quadrupeds and fishes. 

 The beds in which they are found are covered by other strata, 

 filled with marine fossils. 



The fossil elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and 

 the mastodon, are not found with those more ancient genera. 

 They are found in the ancient alluvial strata, sometimes with 

 marine and sometimes with fresh-water productions; but never 

 in the regular rocky strata. The species of these animals, and 

 every relic found with them, are either unknown or doubtful: 

 and it is only in the latest alluvial depositions that species 

 which appear similar to those now existing are to be found. 



Among the most astonishing phenomena which fossil osteo- 

 logy unfolds to our view, are those osseous breccie^ which, 

 though removed from each other the distance of many hundred 



