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the generic characters, should be discoverable in the fossil specimen ; 
which is not the case, at least, in the figure of the fossil fish considered 
by Mr. Jones as a bream. The fossil also, above described, as being 
part of a salmon, Mr. Jones afterwards discovered to be the remains 
of a vegetable, and took the first opportunity to acknowledge his error. 
The paucity of fossil fish is attributed, by M. Faujas, to the quickness 
with which fish are decomposed after death, and to the vast numbers 
which are destroyed by the stronger devouring the weak. But these 
two circumstances by no means account for this interesting fact. It 
is true, that the flesh may, if exposed to the air, soon run into putre- 
faction ; but even then, the bones in the spinous fishes, and the scales 
and spiculag, would be left ; the two latter being, as has been observed 
by Mr. Hatchett, true bony substances, containing much phosphate of 
lime, with a greater proportion of the membranaceous part than in 
common bone. The destructive wars between these animals must 
immediately be seen to have no bearing on this particular fact ; since, 
if the waters continued to be well peopled, the number of fossils of 
this class would not be thereby diminished. 
I should not have noticed the insufficiency of M. Faujas’s argu- 
ments, but from a fear lest they should have been too easily admitted, 
and the further consideration of this important fact too speedily closed. 
I am the more anxious to prevent this, since I conceive that the 
desired explanation may be more likely to be found in the circum- 
stances under which the bed was formed, in which they have become 
mineralized. 
The same writer conceives that the opinion of the fish of Vestena 
Nova having been instantly killed (asphixies subitement), is supported 
by the position and the horizontal and tranquil situation in which they 
are found : Essai de Geologie, p. 107- It may be sufficient, to show 
how little reliance is to be placed on this reasoning, to obseive, that 
the celebrated Werner has deduced the same inference from the 
opposite fact ; he being of opinion, from the contorted aspect of the 
