OF CORNWALL. 279 
foil'll- fliell s, fuch as peSlunculi , conchites, ammonitce , and other re- 
mains of marine teftaceous animals fhould be found in proportionable 
plenty in ftones, quarries, and mines; but thofe 1 who have travelled 
through Cornwall, have found no fuch thing : and ftrange this may 
feem to fome, if not an unaccountable deficiency ; yet in this par- 
ticular we fhall not find Cornwall fingular, nor the fubjetft fuffici- 
ently examined. True it is, that fofiil-fhells are extremely rare in 
Cornwall, and I have fometimes thought that the fhape of our 
county might have contributed in a great meafure to deprive us of 
thefe curiofities ; for being a narrow flip of land, projecting into 
the weftern ocean, the departing waters of the deluge could not 
retire to their ufual bed without taking away great parts of the up- 
per jlrata , as a modern author has obferved k ; to which let us add, 
that the feas to the north and fouth of Cornwall could not leave 
the furface of our hills without frequent ftruggles, as we fee on 
ridges where two feas meet : they muft have produced, from their 
own weight and concourfe, fuch violent agitations as would not 
leave fuch light bodies as fhells, feeds, plants, and animal exuviae 
to reft in the diftolved clays and foft ftones of fuch a narrow ridge. 
But I am perfuaded that this is not the reafon ; for in other 
counties, and indeed foreign regions, where the fhape of the 
cotjntry is quite different, and does not at all countenance fuch a 
theory, we find the fame want of thefe extraneous fofiils. Firft, 
then, let it be obferved, that thefe marine exuvice are not equally 
difperfed in every place ; in many diftriCfs few or none are found, 
in many diftridts again they are found in all parts ; the reafon of 
which is, that the teftaceous tribes do fometimes fhift, retire, and 
difappear from fome coafts, and muft be therefore accumulated in 
others. The murex , fo famous formerly on the coafts of Tyre, has 
been unknown there for many ages. Foflil-fhells ( fays Dr. Shaw, 
page 383) are very rare in the mountains near Sinai; they are ftill 
rarer, if Fame fays true, in many parts of Afia minor, where a 
celebrated Botanift of our country, notwithftanding the utmoft 
enquiry, could not hear of any in much larger diftrifts than the 
county of Cornwall. Nobilijfimus Sherardus Botanicus ajferuit quod 
in orientalibus plagis ab ipfo 7 ?iet nulla fpreta indujlria in fojfilium dif- 
quijitione , prater fuam & aliorum expe&ationem nullum unqua?n 
diluvianutn monument u??i comperitd Jof. Monti Bononienfis de ?no- 
numento diluviano , page 24. “ For as in our mountainous places 
(continues the fame author) there are obferved whole mountains of 
teftaceous exuvice ftretching themfelves in a ftraight line for many 
miles together, as Count Marfilli has frequently informed me ; fo 
» Ray, Lhuyd, Hutchinfon. k Hutchinf. vol. I. trad 2, page 90. 
alfo 
