rOEETGX TVTELLI&E>'CZ. 



97 



Tcre legions of dolpliiiis and wliale? were ' blowing' freely, plor.gliing the 

 surface of the sea with their broad tails, and quietly sporting without fear 

 of man. These fossil remains are of a much higher antiquity than all the 

 products of human industry. Man had not yer made his appeara:cee at 

 the period when the sea covered these latitudes : the earth was then 

 neither sufficiently prepared n:r -r.:"i?:er.:-y s r.if.ly estii-lished to receive 

 the 'king of creation.' Bet-v^::: ■M'.se-.iT r^:::":! that time past 

 when the soil which now bears tie wc'iiatrs oi tue ciiy of Euber.s reposed 

 at the bottom of the sea, we find numerous and inconn-overtible vesi'ges 

 of an intermediate period when many great terrestrial mammifers held 

 their sway. 



•'• From the depths of Siberia to the basin of the XEediterranean and the 

 Black Sea, two great pachyderms, the Mammoth ?^nd tichorine Ehino- 

 ceros, trod in great numbers the shall jw waters and plains,* at t/i-f^ savne 

 time that the 2:reat bears so care:V//-\' d scribed by Dr. Schna v a.i 

 1S33) frequented the sombre caverns l i L'-ige. The nearly cora ' s.:e- 

 leton disinterred two years s:r:ce at Lieire amongst bone? ; ; a :ceros, 

 ox. deer, horse, and hy?ena. belongs to this intermediaie "r laa-ia- . . . 

 The Xorth Sea had not then its present limits : England had not yet. per- 

 haps, been stibjected to that terrible convulsion which violently sepa.rated 

 it from the Continent ; and judging from the considerable number of bones 

 which are met with in certain places in the present seas, these £-reat pachy- 

 derms traversed freely and dry-toot from the Mouse and a :? 

 the Thames and the county of Essex. ... As I prop:?a a • .a 

 fossil bones collected from the saa a a- e a " .1 ' - ; o: the 

 environs of Antwerp, and which : la.^ : : , . a . a/ : . . aaias and 

 whales, permit me to draw attention lo tiie spcci^s v. aa_v_ a: viiir our 

 coasts, in order the better to jtidge of the diiterences vria:-ai a: a vj-. i.ad 

 by a comparison between theraa-?aT X :rrh ':^ra aaa ' : : a lag at 

 that geological epoch. TTlio i? i-.aaa laaa ::i a - a samiiier, 

 reclining on the sand of the dunes or a: taie looi vi in.' a a andoned to 

 his reveries, has not been struck with that majestic na a. _a li. under a 

 thousand dinerent fjnns. spreads 'vcive; cf life on tl:: ^_ a , ^^^ao laa? nor 

 asked himself. — This sh-or - -ri i:-day, is i: i-oa "i..- ■a:-s •;: other days ? 

 These wai-^ai. l.a'-- \- .:':;.:losed in th^aa _ : aai - -::.Vi\e fishes? 

 What meaa _ _ . \' :hese tusas : a aaaa, ' a:.h the sea 

 throws up 5:::./:a...; ast ? As aaji.:.:- jia_;ri. arrested by 

 the majestic ruins of Thebes or Palmyra, deli^hrs in evoking the remem- 

 brance of their peoples, and n^rurins; to hims:'_: a aii::! and th? temple 

 filled with the dense crowd, so the naturahst ■- a: s :-:t? roll their 

 foaming waves on the dry land, the water? ^--^1 "^ ::ai d 'a nias and 

 sirens, starrfish and ' ear- shells.' . . . All the specics, aa --:aa or fish, 

 mollusc or polype, buried in those vast bads of sand, ha"? a:-: " : aa-' d rrom 

 0;//' seas, anl evca Th_aa aaai; aaesinhabi: aa,- :a"af . aa ; — aha^_:-_.a a^. 



•'The mise e:i iC- : is :aa same as 'j. .f ; a - ; ' _ _a a_.:L- ;.ie 



same efiects : the surf causes the same ravages, —in a word, the aecoraiions 

 remain, but the actors are changed. 



The phenomena most apparent to the naturalist in comparing the pre- 



* Of late the ;:udy of tbe species of tue quaiernaiy epoch hi respect to their appearances 

 and succession has made great prosress. A remarkable memoir by AI. Larter has ap- 

 peared on this important subject, and according to this learred palcontoloirist the cave- 

 bears had disappeared before the appearance of the mammoths, aad man was contemporary 

 with these species, .See Ann. des Sc. Xat., Ime Se'rie. t. sv.. cah, iiio 



T Scohy, ■' Corsidcraafa.i jar les Ossements Tossiles de'coaverts a Lierre,'" 1S60: and 

 'Bulletins de TAcadcmie iLvalc Belgiq_nea" 2me Serie, t. ix.. Xo, 5. 



TOL. Y. ' ^ O 



