120 



SKETCHES OF CREATIOX. 



istic of the 

 markable 



marine fauna. One thing which is very re- 

 is the fact that the existing pearly nautilus is 

 closely related to the 

 most ancient forms — a 

 specimen creature of pri- 

 meval times — the key to 

 the inscriptions on the pre- 

 adamite rocks. The ortho- 

 ceratites were nautili with 

 straight shells. They were 

 the " carnivora" of the sea. 

 They often attained to for- 

 midable dimensions. I 

 have found remains of in- 

 dividuals on St. Joseph's 

 Island, in Lake Huron, 

 which were twelve feet in 

 length. A reliable gentle- 

 man of Utica, New York, 

 informed me that he had 

 traced one in the "Black 

 River Limestone" to the 

 distance of thirty-two feet! 

 Imagine a hollow cone of 

 limestone, of the dimen- 

 sions of a " saw-log," ani- 

 mated, with a "Kraken 

 octojDod" ensconced in the 

 open end, staring with 

 glassy, sinister eyes to the 

 right and left, and numer- 

 ous slimy, muscular, insin- 

 'ino- in ev- 



feeli 



uatmg arms 



ery direction for their prey. 



