GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
335 
It is needless here to speculate either on the 
pliysical, or final causes, which produced these 
curious changes of species, in this highest order 
uf the Molluscous inhabitants of the seas, during 
some of the early and the middle ages of geolo- 
§ical chronology; hut the exquisite symmetry, 
I>eauty, and minute delicacy of structure, that 
pervade each variation of contrivance throughout 
Several hundred species, leave no room to doubt 
exercise of Design and Intelligence in their 
Construction ; although we cannot always point 
Out the specific uses of each minute variation, in 
^I^e arrangement of parts fundamentally the 
same. 
The geographical distribution of Ammonites 
^u the ancient world, seems to have partaken of 
that universality, we find so common in the ani- 
^fials and vegetables of a former condition of our 
S^obe, and which differs so remarkably from 
the varied distribution that prevails among exist- 
ing forms of organic life. We find, the same 
genera, and, in a few cases, the same species of 
Ammonites, in strata, apparently of the same 
^ge, not only throughout Europe, but also in 
distant regions of Asia, and of North and South 
America.* 
Dr- Gerard has discovered at the elevation of sixteen thou- 
^^r>d feet in the Himmalaya Mountains, species of Ammonites, 
Walcoti, and A. Communis, identical with those of the 
part Lyme Regis. He has also found in the same 
® of the Himmalaya, several species of Belemnite, with Te- 
