CONTEXTS.

XXVI]

Page

among the Ancient Rocks contained in this Deposit—AmazingAbundance of Animal Life—Exemplified by a Scene in the Her-ring Fishery—Platform of Death—Probable Cause of the Catas-trophe which rendered it such, . . • • , 227-240

CHAPTER, XIII.

Successors of the Exterminated Tribes—The Gap slowly Filled—

Proof that the Vegetation of a Formation may long survive itsAnimal Tribes—Probable Cause —Immensely Extended Periodduring which Fishes were the Master Existences of our Planet—Extreme Folly of an Infidel Objection illustrated by the Fact—Sin-gular Analogy between the History of Fishes as Individuals andas a Class—Chemistry of the Lower Formation—Principles onwhich the Fish -inclosing Nodules were probably Formed—Chemi-cal Effect of Animal Matter in discharging the Colour from RedSandstone—Origin of the Prevailing Tint to which the Systemowes its Name—Successive Modes in which a Metal may exist—

The Restorations of the Geologist void of Colour—Very DifferentAppearance of the Ichthyolites of Cromarty and Moray, . 241-255

CHAPTER XIV.

The Comstone Formation and its Organisms—Dwarf Vegetation—Ccpkalaspides —Huge Lobster—Habitats of the Existing Crusta-cea—No unapt Representation of the Deposit of Balruddery fur-nished by a Land-locked Bay in the Neighbourhood of Cromarty—Vast Space occupied by the Geological Formations—Contrast-ed with the Half-formed Deposits which represent the ExistingCreation—Inference—The Formation of the Iloloptychius—V ro-bable Origin of its Siliceous Limestone—Marked Increase in theBulk of the Existences of the System—Conjectural Cause—TheCoal Measures—The Limestone of Burdiehouse—Conclusion, 256-271

Ichthyolites of the Old Red Sandstone—F rom Agassiz’s “Pois-sons Fossiles,” ...... 272-274