THE GROWTH OF CONTINENTS. 147 
Netherlands. These three systems of upheaval 
have also been traced by Elie de Beaumont ; and 
in the depressions formed between their eleva- 
tions we find the coal-basins of Central France, 
of England, and of Germany. During all these 
epochs, in Europe as in America, every such dis- 
location of the surface was attended by a change 
in the animal creation. 
Il we take now a general view of the aspect 
of Europe at the close of the Carboniferous 
epoch, we shall see that the large island of Scan- 
dinavia is completed, while the islands of Bohe- 
mia and Belgium have approached each other by 
their gradual increase till they are divided only 
by a comparatively narrow channel. The island 
of Belgium, that of Bretagne, and that of the 
central plateau of France, form together a tri- 
angle, of which the plateau is the lowest point, 
while Belgium and Bretagne form the other two 
corners. Between the plateau and Belgium flows 
a channel, which we may call the Burgundian 
channel, since it covers old Burgundy ; between 
the plateau and Bretagne is another channel, 
which from its position we may call the Bordeaux 
channel. The space inclosed between these three 
masses of land is filled by open sea. To trace 
the gradual closing of these channels and the 
filling up of the ocean by constantly increasing 
accumulations, as well as by upheavals, will be 
the object of the next article. 
