Fossil Corals and other Zoophytes.
Fig. 1. "A fossil body, from near Bath, the surface of which is covered by stelliform markings, which seem to have been formed by a coralloid."—Parkinson. This fossil is supposed by Mr. Morris to be the cast of one of those mollusca which form and inhabit hollows in stone, coral, &c. (hence termed Lithodomi). In the present instance, the mollusk had bored into a mass of coral, the imprints of the stellular polype-cells of which remain on the surface of the cast. It closely resembles fig. 3, [Plate XXXVI.] of Faujas St. Fond, Hist. Mont. St. Pierre, which is described as a coral; it is the Astrea geometrica, of Goldfuss.
Fig. 2. A fossil coral from Maestricht. At b, is shown an enlarged view of one of the stars.
Fig. 3. "A siliceous fossil from Essex."—Mr. Parkinson. (Ventriculites racemosus, of Mr. Toulmin Smith.) I must confess myself unable to determine the nature of this specimen.
Figs. 4, & 6. Corals from the cretaceous strata of St. Peter's Mountain, Maestricht (Gorgonia bacillaris ? of Goldfuss). At a, is shown one of the cells in fig. 6, magnified.
Fig. 5. A pebble, split asunder, exposing the remains of a spongite, which formed the nucleus of the flint.[37]
[37] For an account of the formation of flint, see Wonders of Geology, vol. i. p. 300. (6th Edition.)
Fig. 7. Another spongite in a pebble; from Sewardstone, Essex.
Fig. 8. A water-worn, silicified, or rather chalcedonic Ventriculite, from France.
Fig. 9. A very beautiful transverse section of the stem of a Ventriculite in a flint; the colour of the original being retained. This was another precious gem in the estimation of the amiable author of "The Organic Remains of a Former World."