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of Europe only, but of Asia, the Indian Ocean, the South Sea, Africa, 
North and South America ; and, in addition to these, some few of 
fresh water. 
M. Bozza, the original proprietor of the soil, speaking of his collec- 
tion, in a paper published by him, says : “In my cabinet, which con- 
tained upwards of six hundred fish of different sizes, all extracted 
from Bolca, there are more than one hundred whose kinds are known, 
which differ from each other in genus and species, and many others 
besides, to which similar living ones have not yet been discovered .” 
In another passage he adds : “ The first decade of fish published by 
M. Broussonet, has ascertained to us, that many of these found at 
Bolca are natives of the South Sea — of these I have four, which agree 
exactly in form, in proportions, and in fins, with four described by 
M. Broussonet, which are peculiar to the sea of Otaheite, which are 
the polynemus plebeius, or Emoi of the Otaheiteans ; the Gobius 
striatus, which they call Jaipoa; the Chcetoden triostegus, and the 
Gobius oscellaris.” These perfectly correspond with the fish given 
by Sir Joseph Banks to M. Broussonet. 
The stone has been generally termed a marie or marley schist. It 
is a whitish, yellowish, or bluish grey, and in general yields easily to 
the knife, emitting at the same time, a peculiar fetid smell, differing 
considerably from the smell of the common lapis suillus. 
The forms of the fishes are well defined, and the harder parts are 
remarkably well expressed. The dark brown matter composing these 
fish remains distinct, and may be picked off from the stone, and pro- 
jects in proportion to the thickness of each part in its natural state. 
It is hard, brittle, and rather glossy, through its substance, except in 
some of the grosser bones, such as the joints of the vertebrae ; which, 
though of this appearance externally, are found, when broken, to 
consist internally of laminer crystallized calcareous spar. 
Mr. Gravdon proposes a very ingenious explanation of the pheno- 
mena yielded by the fish of Monte Bolca and their surrounding matrix. 
