£66 
Hints for the Formation of 
8. The nature of the objects by which they are ac- 
companied ; such as sand, gravel, flints : whether angu- 
lar or round ; whether there are found in their neighbour- 
hood other vestiges of organised bodies % 
4. Their nature. Whether they are lying in their na- 
tural position, or reversed, and turned upside down, so 
as to afford reason to conclude that they died on the spots 
which they now occupy ; or whether they have been 
transported thither by some violent and irregular move- 
ment : whether, for example, the shells have the same at- 
titude as in the bosom of the sea, the univalves on their 
mouth, and the bivalves on the valve that is least convex. 
5. Whether they are in families, as in stagnant waters ; 
or, on the contrary, thrown together in an irregular man- 
ner. 
6. Whether all these circumstances are the same 
throughout the whoie extent of the same bank $ in the 
contiguous banks of the same lands, and the same moun- 
tains, and in those of the neighbourhood. 
7. To ascertain whether fossil shells are found in the 
most ancient mountains, and not in those of a more recent 
formation 5 and thus to class, if possible, the relative ages 
and epochs of the apparition of the different species. 
8. To compare exactly the bones, shells, and fossil 
plants with the living plants analogous to them 5 and thus 
to ascertain the truth of the assertion of Michael is, that 
the fossil bones of quadrupeds (such as the elephant, rhi- 
noceros, oxen, and stags,) have not an exact resemblance 
to those which are found at present alive. 
9. If they are really different, to determine whether 
these differences are not varieties, or whether they cha- 
racterise species. 
* To pay particular attention to those of such organised bodies as may be 
found in the real veins.. Til. 
