278 Mr. MuRCHisoN on a Fossil Fox found at CEningen near Constance, 



vegetable remains*. The variety of this list would astonish any geologist 

 unacquainted with the wonderful fertility of these quarries; for in it are 

 mentioned several quadrupeds and birds, a vast number of fishes, reptiles, 

 insects, and innumerable plants, all of which were by him, as well as by 

 Razoumofsky and other cotemporary writers, identified with existing spe- 

 cies t- 



At that period, however, fossil zoology had not the fixed character which it 

 has since assumed through the labours of the illustrious Cuvier, who has 

 clearly shown that several of the organic remains of ffiningen have in fact no 

 exact types in living nature, and that the celebrated Homo diluvii testis of 

 Scheuchzer was in reality an aquatic salamander;};. Much however remained 

 to be examined ; for it was still left in doubt whether amidst the fishes, insects, 

 shells, and plants, many might not yet prove to be of existing species. Cuvier 

 satisfactorily established, that all the mammalia discovered in this deposit up 

 to the time of the publication of his work were Rodentia, and that no car- 

 nivorous quadruped had been hitherto found in it. 



Previous to the appearance of the Ossemens Fossiles M. Brongniart had 



* Denkschrijten der Vaterldndischen Gesellschuft der aerzte und Naturforscher Schwa, 

 bcns^ vol. i. p. 1. Tubingen, 1805. 



t In the memoirs of Scheuchzer, Razoumofsky, and Karg, will be found the three principal 

 theories by which it has been attempted to explain the nature of the CEningen formation. 



1st. Scheuchzer referred the whole to the Mosaic deluge, bringing forward, as a proof of it, 

 his Homo diluvii testis^ an animal which subsequent German authorities considered to be a 

 skeleton of a large fish, but the true nature of which was only established by Cuvier, who has 

 clearly shown that it was an " aquatic salamander." 



2ndly. The hypothesis of Razoumofsky {Annales des Sciences dc Lausanne^ vol. iii.) was, that 

 the sea in retiring had left a vast freshwater lake which extended fifty-nine leagues in length, 

 covering all the country between the lakes of Geneva and Constance. In support of his theory 

 this author identified the fossil species of this lacustrine deposit with those of the lignite beds near 

 Vevay, where it is now well known that a few land andfluviatile shells,diff'eringentlrely from those 

 of CEningen, are mixed up with marine remains. He further imagined that volcanic subterranean 

 agencies had indurated, altered and bituminized the marls, calcined the shells, and carbonized 

 the plants. It is remarkable that this author seems to have been unacquainted with the existence 

 of the adjoining volcanic group of Hohentwiel, which might have served to confirm his views as to 

 the igneous consolidation of the deposit. (See a description of the volcanic rocks of Hohentwiel. 

 Denkschriftcji der Naturforscher Schzcabens, vol.i. p. 204.) 



Srdly. Karg and others imagined that the strata were formed in tanks or fish-ponds within 

 the period of history. This singular notion was adopted under the false supposition, that as all 

 the animals and plants were of existing species, they most probably inhabited ancient fish- 

 ponds which the legends of the adjoining convents asserted to have formerly existed in this neigh- 

 bourhood. 



X Ossemens Fossiles, vol. v. part 2. p. 431. 



