Fig. 29.
An examination of the numerous Cystideæ—the class of fossils which are allied to the sea-urchins of our own seas—will convince any one of the constant tendency towards the beautiful in all natural objects. The arrangements of the plates of the Cystideans, ornamented as they are with grooves, striæ, and pores, presenting a very highly ornamented system of sculpture, cannot be excelled by any imaginary design. The Echino-encrinites, with their curious plate ornaments and radiating bands, are all in the highest degree symmetrical, as are also the star-fishes found in a fossil state, and the numerous animal and vegetable remains of a former world, to which we cannot do more than thus cursorily allude. Many hundreds of similar creations possessing the utmost variety in their arrangements, and rivalling in geometric regularity and beauty the images of the kaleidoscope, are to be found locked within the stony structure of our fossiliferous rocks.
The Cidaris Blumenbachii ([Fig. 30]), found in the Jura, is the only specimen of either of those classes of fossil forms which our space will allow of our giving.
Fig. 30.
The elegant form of the Lily Encrinites, as they have been called, is well illustrated by the drawing of the Encrinites moniliformis (Fig. 31), the sections of the stems of which have been already shown (Fig. 29), and the Bourgueticrionis crinoidalis ([Fig. 32]), which at once unites the perfection of lightness and elegance in the disposition of its jointed stem and its crowning inflorescence. These curious links between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, presenting in their singularly delicate structures the most desirable forms for ornamental disposition, are to be found in great abundance and diversity.
Distributed through every phase of being, the creations of Nature present a chain, each link of which is symmetrical in form and beautiful in its arrangement. If we commence our examination with these forms of the lowest organization, which appear to mark the dawn of vitality on this planet, and trace series after series through the distinguishing strata—each one marking a new epoch in the order of animal existence, and exhibiting new and constantly varied forms—we shall find that order and elegance mark the whole. Many of those strange creations, the Trilobites—and indeed those monsters of that ocean which appears to have prevailed over the dry land, the Saurians—do not appear, upon the first inspection, to bear out this assertion; but an examination of their wonderful armour will at once show that Nature, in her works, never neglects to add to their adornment after she has provided for the necessities of each condition.