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fish, in the bituminous slate of Mansfeldt, that the fish have been sud- 
denly killed by an irruption or instantaneous formation of sulphureo- 
metallic matter*. 
Nor does the particular circumstance which has been so much in- 
sisted upon, as a proof of this opinion of M. Faujas, appear to be at 
all conclusive. The circumstance to which I allude is, that which is 
displayed in one of the specimens from Vestena Nuova, in the Museum 
of Natural History at Paris. In this specimen a pike is seen, which 
has died, with another fish of the same species still in his throat ; it 
having been supposed that its instantaneous death was produced by a 
sudden volcanic irruption into the water, at the moment of its having 
swallowed its prey. 
The fact, however, really is, that fossil fish are found in all the 
different quarries in which they exist, in almost every state and posi- 
tion which can be conceived. Sometimes, with their altered flesh 
still covering their bones, and at other times the skeleton only is 
preserved. Many are seen laid out in a straight line, but nearly as 
many are also seen in various contorted positions. 
There are no fossil remains of any class of animals, except, perhaps, 
of the Crustacea, which accord so much with the existing genera, and 
even species, as those of fish, The proportion, indeed, of fossil fish, 
which have existing analogues, is so great, as to render it by no means 
improbable, considering how frequently, in the present day, new 
genera are discovered, that the analogues of such as are now only 
known in a mineralized state may yet be found. 
Among the fossil fish, whose living analogues are known, the pike, 
the carp, the perch, the eel, the sea-scorpion, the scarus, the mackarel, 
theturbot,thesword-fish, lod, gadus mustela, gobius,and several others, 
have been mentioned by different authors, among the fishes found in 
the neighbourhood of Verona. M. Faujas particularizes a Fistularia, 
of J apan ; a pegasus, of the Indian Sea and of Brazil ; and three cheto- 
* System of Mineralogy, by Mr. Jamieson, vol. i. p. 530. 
