Palenque
a village of Mexico, State of Chiapas, about 100 miles E. N.
E. of Ciudad-Real. About 7 miles S. W. of it are extensive and magnificent ruins.
They consist of vast artificial terraces, or terraced truncated pyramids, of cut stone, surmounted by edifices of peculiar and solid architecture, also of cut stone, covered with figures in relief, or figures and hieroglyphics in stucco, with remains of brilliant colors. Most of the buildings are of one story, but a few are two, three, and some have been four stories. The principal structure, known as the Palace, is 228 feet long, 180 feet deep, and 25 feet high, standing on a terraced truncated pyramid of corresponding dimensions. On slabs of stone are carved numerous colossal figures, and the remains of statues more resemble Grecian than Egyptian or Hindu art. These ruins were only discovered in 1750. (See Stephens' "Incidents of Travel in Central America," etc.; and Catherwood's "Views of Ancient Monuments of Central America," etc.) PALEONTOLOGY. The study of the life which inhabited the earth during past geological periods. It is based on the study of fossils. Although it was long recognized that fossils were the remains of past life, and some attempt at study has been made, paleontology was placed on a scientific basis by Culver (1769-1832) and given great impetus
Of course the animal and vegetable life inhabiting the earth at the time a rock is formed will be the fossils which are found in that rock, and evidence of the predominance of different types of life in various geological periods and the sequence of these periods has been determined. The major geological periods or eras take their names from the type of life predominating, and the divisions of these periods are named from the species. During the Paleozoic era the earth was inhabited by invertebrates, by reptiles during the Mesozoic era and by mammals in the Cenozoic era.
The fauna which are found in the lowest strata are those which originally were best adapted to the locality and which had conquered in the struggle for existence. These are indigenous faunas.
Often the changes in the climate or topography of the locality cause the introduction of a new type of life called exotic fauna, which may either die out, or thrive and become the predominating or indigenous fauna of the locality.
Bionomy is that branch of paleontology which deals with marine organisms and its branches are: Plankton, which considers those forms of life which drift with the current; Nekton, the study of the swimming types; and Benthos, the life of the bottom of the ocean. The deposits found at beaches and in shallow places are called Littoral Facies; those in moderately deep water Sub-littoral Facies, and the deposits of the deep sea are Abyssal Facies. publication of Darwin's "Origin by the p pub of Species" in 1859, which presented the theory of evolution which was dependent upon the paleontologist for its proof.
There are two branches of paleontology-the branch of the science which studies the biological features of the fossils, and the more comprehensive geological branch which studies the relations between the fossils and the rocks and determines their period by them.
Needless to say, the science is closely related to physical geography as well as biology and geology.
A very large portion of the life of former geological periods has not been preserved for us in the form of fossils, either because it was not of such a type as would lend itself to fossilization, or the evidences of the fossilization have been destroyed by erosion or the metamorphosis of the rocks in which they were imbedded, but in spite of these many gaps the history of organic development is rapidly being compiled and the ad- The study of the ranges of temperature and the temperature zones of geological time, the discovery of extinct species and even orders, the proof of changes in type in adaptation to circumstances have been some of the results of paleontological research. PALERMO (ancient Panormus) (Palermo province), the capital city, and a seaport of Sicily, on the N. W. extremity. It is built on the S. W. of an extensive bay, in a plain, which, from its luxuriance and from being surrounded by mountains on three sides, has been termed the "golden shell." In the front of the city is the Mariana, a raised terrace, extending more than 1 mile along the bay, and is about 200 feet wide. The principal public buildings are, the royal palace, the tribunal of justice, the custom house (formerly, palace of the Inquisition), etc. Manufactures silk and cotton fabrics, glass, oil cloth, and leather.
Nearly 1,000 boats, and 3,500 fishermen are engaged in the tunny fishery. Ex-