884 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. 



Lect. VIII. 



Geological For- 

 mations. 



Secondary for- 

 mations . . 



Character of the Fossil 

 Fauna. 



'Corals and shells of all orders; 

 crinoidea, fishes, insects, be- 

 lemnites, ammonites, &c. 

 Reptiles, both marine and 



\ terrestrial, of numerous ge- / 

 nera and species ; and many 

 of gigantic size. Two or three 

 genera of Mammalia: and 

 one of Birds — Ardea? . . 



Character of the Fossil 

 Flora. 



Palms. 

 Tree-ferns. 

 Coniferse, and Cy- 



cadese. 

 Dicotyledonous trees 



rare. 



Tertiary 



Modern Epoch 



(Terrestrial lierhivorous and 

 carnivorous Mammalia. The 

 numerical proportion of rep- 

 tiles comparatively small. 

 Monkeys, Birds, Fishes, and 

 all the existing orders . . 

 (Man, and contemporary ani- } The existing vegeta- 

 te mals j tion. 



Dicotyledonous trees 

 prevail ; coniferae ; 

 palms, tree-ferns, 

 &c. 



This sketch presents but an outline of the most striking 

 changes observable in the succession of organic beings pre- 

 served in the respective formations. In this view — setting 

 apart the infusoria — a few fuci, mollusca, and polyparia, are 

 the first evidence of organic existence ; these are followed 

 by a large increase of the same orders, and the addition 

 of crinoidea, Crustacea, and fishes ; in the succeeding period 

 reptiles and insects appear, with sauroid fishes, and an 

 immense development of vegetable forms, particularly of 

 the cryptogamic class. Large reptiles next prevail to an 

 extraordinary degree ; and doubtful indications of birds, 

 and a few very small mammalia, attest the existence of the 

 higher orders of animals. The vegetable kingdom is greatly 

 modified ; and plants and trees of the coniferous tribes 

 preponderate. The next remarkable change is in the sudden 

 increase of mammiferous animals, and the reduction of the 

 reptile tribes ; the large extinct pachydermata, as the 

 mammoth, mastodon, &c. associated with existing genera 



