INTRODUCTION. 



IX 



numerous instances (1). The fragments of palm-trees; the fossil 

 masses of gum- elastic ; the impressions of exotic ferns in slate and 

 coal ; and the fossil bones of the Elephant, Crocodile, etc. found 

 in England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe, seem to 

 attest a mutation of climate (2) ; 



Cuvier and Brongniart were the first who announced the exist- 

 ence of formations, anterior to history, composed in the same 

 manner and presenting the same characters, although situated at 

 great distances from each other, and containing Terrestial and 

 Fresh-Water instead of Marine productions (3) . It is impossible 

 to admit the hypothesis of the transport of these terrestrial produc- 

 tions to the sea by means of rivers. They might have carried into 

 the sea some remains of vegetables and some fluviatick and terrestrial 

 shells, but then the formations which are composed of them ought 



cette mer qui avoit precede la noire; elle a eprouve aussi au moins une 

 catastrophe ; et corarae plusieurs de ces bancs obliques qu elle avoit formes les 

 premiers s'elevent au-dpsswa de ces couches horizontales qui leur ont succede, 

 et qui les ©ntourent, cette catastrophe, en rendant ces bancs obliques, les avoit 

 aussi fait saillir au-dessus du niveau de la mer, et en avoit fait des lies, ou au 

 moins des ^cueils et des inegalites, soit qu'ils eussent ete releves par une 

 extremite, ou que I'affaissement de 1'extremite opposee eut fait baisser les 

 eaux ; second r^sultat non moins clair, non moins demontre que le premier, 

 pour quiconque se donnera la peine d'etudier les monumens qui Tappuient. — 

 Cuvier, Discours sur la Theorie de la Terre. Paris, 1821. 



(1) See the note on that singular shell the Trochus agglutinans, p. 35. 

 The Terebellum perditum (the analogous living species of which is not 



known) is found in great numbers and of all ages at Grignon, which M. La- 

 marck considers would not have been the case unless the enormous quantity of 

 marine shells had lived in that region, instead of being accumulated there by 

 some great catastrophe. At Courtagnon, near Rheims, an enormous bed of 

 fossil shells discovers itself in several points ; it proceeds from east to west, 

 appears again at Grignon and some other places, and from M. Lamarck's 

 comparison of the species with those found in Hampshire, appears to have 

 extended to that part of England. If so, there is reason to believe that this 

 bed. has been divided by the Channel since its formation ; and, consequently, 

 that its formation was anterior to the last invasion of the sea. 



(2) The rocks of the western coasts of France are interlarded with Gry- 

 phites, Ammonites and other shells (coquilles pelagiennes) known to inhabit 

 the sea only at great depths. Recent littoral shells have been found fixed on 

 these fossil deep-water shells, which are also common in the hills called Vaches- 

 Noires. There is a pottery in that neighbourhood which is supplied with clay 

 from that part of the beach which is uncovered at low water ; this clay, which 

 is said to be very superior, contains quantities of deep-water fossil shells. It 

 would seem, therefore, that these parts are not now subjected to- the sea for 

 the first time. Again, the fossil marine shells found more than 60 feet deep in 

 the earth, probably were not deposited during the last invasion or passage of 

 the sea.— Hjdrogeologie, par J. B. Lamarck. Pages 85, 86. 



(3) Lamanon is said to have observed immense beds of frcsh-waler shells 

 on beds of marine shells in the mountains of Provence. 



