VITALITY. 
653 
soon after it was dug, covered with a thick growth of ferns, 
and that spot is now occupied by a clump of fine fern trees, 
the cyathea medularis, and in a cave which was cut in the 
neighbouring cliff, composed of a similar soft sandstone, 
which had evidently been upheaved from the lower level, a 
like growth of ferns soon appeared in the most humid part ; 
in fact, when we repeatedly hear of live toads and other 
reptiles being encased in blocks of stone taken from our coal 
measures, there is no assigning a limit to the period of vitality 
in either the animal or vegetable kingdoms. 
SPHCERIA, OR VEGETATING CATERPILLARS. 
