. Elements of geology, or, The ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments. Geology. Ch. XXL] NAME OF " GRYPHITE LIMESTONE.'1 417 to account even for such partial breaks as have been alluded to in the succession of species, if we reject the hypothesis that the old species were in each case destroyed at the close of the deposition of the rocks containing them, and replaced by the creation of new forms when the succeeding formation began. I agree with Professor Earn- say in not accepting this hypothesis. jSTo doubt some of the old species occasion
. Elements of geology, or, The ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments. Geology. Ch. XXL] NAME OF " GRYPHITE LIMESTONE.'1 417 to account even for such partial breaks as have been alluded to in the succession of species, if we reject the hypothesis that the old species were in each case destroyed at the close of the deposition of the rocks containing them, and replaced by the creation of new forms when the succeeding formation began. I agree with Professor Earn- say in not accepting this hypothesis. jSTo doubt some of the old species occasionally died out, and left no representatives in Europe or elsewhere; others were locally exterminated in the struggle for life by species, which invaded their ancient domain, or by varieties better fitted for a new state of things. Pauses also of vast duration may have occurred in the deposition of strata, allowing time for the modi- fication of organic life throughout the globe, slowly brought about by variation as well as by extinction. In some parts of France, near the Yosges Mountains, and in Lux- embourg, M. E. de Beaumont has shown that the lias containing Gnjphcea arcuata, Plagiostoma giganteum (see fig. 437), and other characteristic fossils, becomes arenaceous; and around the Hartz, in Westphalia and Bavaria, the inferior parts of the lias are sandy, and sometimes afford a building-stone. The name of Gryphite limestone has sometimes been applied to the lias, in consequence of the great number of shells which it con- tains of a species of oyster, or Gryphcea (fig. 438, see also fig. 387, p. 395). A large heavy shell called Hippopodium (fig. 439), allied to Fig. 437. Fisc. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. New York, D. Appleton and co.
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