PALEONTOLOGY,* OR FOSSIL ZOOLOGY. "The very ground on which we tread, and the mountains which surround us, may be regarded as vast tumuli, in which the organic remains of a former world are enshrined."-Parkinson's Org. Rem. Vol. I. THE recent species of the Animal Kingdom exceed one hundred thousand, while those known in a fossil state scarcely amount to ten thousand; yet the latter comprise examples of most of the classes and families, and many of the genera and species, of the beings which still inhabit the lands and waters of our planet. Although our notice of these remains must necessarily be limited to a general survey, we shall describe somewhat in detail the fossils that possess the greatest interest, and also those, which, from their extended distribution, will often be presented to the observation of the student in the course of his personal researches. * PALEONTOLOGY—a discourse on ancient beings. Our examination will commence with the minutest animal organisms, and proceed in an ascending order, in accordance with the usual zoological classification; but it will be expedient, as in the botanical section, to comprehend occasionally, under the same head, species and genera of different families, or classes, that may be associated together in particular deposits or localities. In the preliminary remarks on the nature of Organic Remains (p. 54), the various conditions in which the relics of animals are preserved in the strata, were considered. We may, therefore, at once enter upon the investigation of the specimens selected for the illustration of the subject, from the innumerable relics of the ancient inhabitants of the sea and land, entombed in the solid crust of the earth—the remains of the countless tribes of beings, which have successively appeared on the surface of our planet, flourished for indefinite periods, and then vanished, and been succeeded by other types of organization. The fossil Animal Kingdom will be considered under the following sections :— I. INFUSORIA, or Animalcules. This section will embrace, not only the remains of |