§ 44. FOSSIL FOX OF OZNINGEN. 263 



formerly supposed to be shells, and from their peculiar 

 structure received the name of gyrogonites, which they still 

 bear, although their real nature has long since been ascer- 

 tained.* In conclusion, Mr. Lyell observes, "that this 

 tertiary series differs essentially from that of the London 

 and Paris basins. The great development of regular beds 

 of blue limestone and shale, the quality and appearance of 

 the coal, and the thickness of the compact grey, brown, and 

 black argillaceous limestones and sandstones, give them 

 the aspect of the most ancient of our secondary rocks ; 

 and it is only by the peculiar species of fluviatile and 

 lacustrine shells, the seed-vessels of the charge, &c. that 

 the comparatively recent date of the whole group is demon- 

 strated." 



44. Fossil fox of GEningen.— Among the tertiary 

 lacustrine formations of the Continent, there is one so 

 much celebrated for its organic remains as to require a 

 passing notice. QEningen, near Constance, has for centuries 

 been known to contain fossil remains of great beauty and 

 interest. A short but graphic memoir by Sir R. Murchison,*)* 

 presents in a few lines the history of this ancient lake. The 

 Rhine, in its course from Constance to Schaffhausen, 

 flows through a depression of a tertiary marine formation, 

 known by the name of ATolasse, which forms hills on both 

 sides of the river, of from 700 to 900 feet in height. In a 

 depression or basin of this molasse, is a series of strata 

 composed of marls, and cream-coloured, fine-grained, fetid 

 limestone, with laminated white marl-stone, forming a total 

 thickness of thirty or forty feet. In the marl-stone, leaves 

 and stems of plants, insects, shells, Crustacea, fishes, turtles, 

 a large aquatic salamander, birds, and a perfect skeleton 

 of an animal allied to the common Fox, have been 



* See Medals of Creation, vol. i. p. 187 ; or Geology of the Isle of 

 Wight, p. 109. 



f Geological Transactions, 1832, vol. iii. p. 277. 



