252 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. III. 



the Ray family, abound in the clay of Bracklesham, Hord- 

 well, and the Isle of Sheppey. The jaws, covered with 

 their dental plates, or teeth, of several species of the Eagle- 

 rays* (Miliobatis) occur in the same localities : and the 

 maxillary bones, with their tubercles, of those extra- 

 ordinary fishes, the Chinuzroids, have been found in a 

 remarkably fine state of preservation, at Bracklesham Bay, 

 Highgate, Isle of Sheppey, &c.f 



The swarms of fishes in the strata of Monte Bolca, and 

 at Aix in Provence,^ have been already alluded to : and our 

 limits will not admit of a more extended notice ; but I 

 may add, that a gigantic Torpedo has been discovered at 

 Monte Bolca. The only existing species of fish known in a 

 fossil state is the little Mallotus villosus, which inhabits the 

 shores of Iceland, of which fossil specimens occur in nodules 

 of indurated marl or clay, along the coasts of that island. § 



As a concise expression of the Ichthyology of the tertiary 

 epoch, it may be stated that the fossil fishes approach in 

 their characters to the living genera, but all the species are 

 extinct The newer tertiary, as the Crag, contain genera 

 common in tropical seas, as the large sharks (Carcharias) 

 and Eagle-rays, &c. In the eocene or most ancient, as the 

 London and Paris basin, Monte Bolca, &c, one third of the 

 Ichthyolites belong to extinct genera. || 



37. Reptiles of the Tertiary epoch. — The reptiles 

 of the Tertiary, like the mammalia, fishes, and other classes 

 of animals, more nearly approach the recent types, than the 

 fossil reptilians of the more ancient strata. All the orders 

 now existing have representatives in the deposits of this 

 epoch. In the London % Clay, remains of Alligators, Croco- 

 diles, and Serpents, have been found in many localities ; and 

 of the Turtles or Chelonians, detached bones of terrestrial 



* Medals of Creation, vol. ii. p. 629. f I bid - P- 619 - 



t Ibid. p. 587. § Ibid. p. 670. 



|| Ibid. p. 670. 



