[ 3*8 ] 



The next anfwer is, that fuch foffils in the cabinets of vif- 

 tuofi are often reported by the feller to have been found in fuch 

 places, contrary to the real fad!:, as the fpecimen, with many 

 collectors, is, on that account, more valued. 



M. le Roy therefore, who was employed to procure timber in 

 the Pyrenees, fpeaks thus of his fruitlefs fearches for fuch fof- 

 fils, 44 Je n'ai appercu aucun coquillage dans les Pyrenees, feule* 

 64 ment qulques empreintes fur les pierres, que j'ai toujours crus 

 64 formees par des filtrations c ." 



44 Neither in the Apennines, Alps, Pyrenees, or Grampian 

 44 Mountains, nor in thofe of Alia, Africa, or America, are fhells 

 * 4 or marine bodies of any kind to be found d ." 



Moft fomlifts again agree, that the mells thus difcovered do 

 not belong to the fea rim of the neighbouring coaft, whilft, for 

 the greater part, no known animal can be pointed out as the in- 

 habitant e . The argument is therefore reduced to this, the mell 

 bears a general refemblance to that of fome cruftaceoUs or other 

 fifh, and consequently muft have originally been depofited at the 

 bottom of the fea. 



Much is in like manner faid about impreflions of fubterraneous 

 plants, which are frequently attributed to the fame caufe of a - 

 general deluge ; and which commonly bear a ftrong, but not 

 exact refemblance, to fern, polypody, and box* 



Now it is firfr. to be obferved, that thefe fuppofed plants are 

 feldom, if ever, doubled, or the foliage difplaced, which muft 

 continually happen if they were the exuviae of real plants. At 

 certain times of the year likewife the backs of fern leaves are 



e Londres, 1776. 4*0. p. 4. 



d Wefley's Nat. Hift. vol, HI. p. 139. 



« See Hift. Acad. Sc. for 1743. p. 1 1 f . 



Covered 



