The historical period seems scarcely to form
an appreciable unit in this computation, for we find ancient Greek temples, like
those of Girgenti (Agrigentum), built of the modern limestone of which we are
speaking, and resting on a hill composed of the same; the site having remained
to all appearances unaltered since the Greeks first colonised the island.
It follows, from the modern geological date of these rocks, that the fauna and
flora of a large part of Sicily are of higher antiquity than the country itself.
The greater part of the island has been raised above the sea since the epoch of
existing species, and the animals and plants now inhabiting it must have
migrated from adjacent countries, with whose productions the species are now
identical. The average duration of species would seem to be so great that they
are destined to outlive many important changes in the configuration of the
earth's surface, and hence the necessity for those innumerable contrivances by
which they are enabled to extend their range to new lands as they are formed,
and to escape from those which sink beneath the sea.
Pages:
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398