X!$ X)r Fleming on the Revolutions in the Animal Kingdom , 
mind to erroneous results. With the progress of science, how- 
ever, the geographical limits of species and of genera, have been 
more carefully investigated, collections of native productions 
have become more numerous and accessible, and the sources of 
error greatly diminished. It is perhaps necessary to add, that 
among all those who have attempted to investigate the history 
of fossil species, there have been very few at the same time ac- 
quainted with the characters of recent animals, and with the de- 
tails of geognosy. When all these circumstances are duly con- 
sidered, it need not appear surprising, that the results hitherto 
obtained are so inconclusive, or rather so distant from the truth. 
It may be stated, in opposition to the opinion against which I 
am contending, that, in general, there are existing species in this 
country , belonging to the same genera or natural families , as 
those which are found imbedded in the strata of the earth in a 
fossil state. The Nautilus (of Lin., including those which are 
spiral, and the straight Orthocera), for example, is found in the 
oldest and the newest rocks containing petrifactions. Several 
species from the tropical seas occur in our public collections. 
But it is not generally known, that, by the labours of Boys, 
Walker and Montagu, nearly thirty different species have been 
detected in a recent state, on our own shores. It is true, that 
the recent tropical kinds are larger than our indigenous species, 
and in this character they resemble the fossil species. But this 
circumstance is of no weight, when considering the geographi- 
cal distribution of different species or genera. The Anomiae 
(Lin.), common in a fossil state, are also represented by many 
recent kinds in our seas, and the same remark is applicable to 
the Madreporae, and Milleporae. 
It may here be said, that the remains of animals which do 
not now live in temperate regions, as the Elephant, Rhinoceros, 
and Tapir, are found in a fossil state in such districts. This 
objection, however, is of no great weight, and derives its principal 
support from the prejudices associated with the appellations of 
the species now noticed. When the name Elephant is pro- 
nounced in our hearing, the imagination immediately presents 
us with the picture of an animal browsing in an equatorial fo- 
rest, guided by a Lascar, or hunted by a Calfre. We are so 
impatient to speculate, that we do not stop to inquire, whether 
