At Steeple Ashton, in Wiltshire, numerous oolitic corals may be obtained. The silicified Astreæ, of Tisbury, in the same county, deserve particular notice (ante, [p. 263]).
Clifton, near Bristol, and Torquay and Babbicombe, on the Devonshire coast, are celebrated for their coralline marbles and pebbles; and many of the Derbyshire limestones are equally prolific in similar remains. The Devonian marbles are so largely employed for ornamental purposes,— as brooches, tables, and side-boards,—that the figures produced by the sections of the enclosed corals must be familiar to the reader.[263]
[263] Specimens of these fossil corals, either as objects of natural history, or as ornaments, may be obtained of Mr. Tennant, 149, Strand.
Dudley, Wenlock, and Ludlow, are well known for the abundance and variety of Silurian polyparia.
Other localities of British corals have been mentioned in the course of this review of fossil zoophytes.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
FOSSIL STELLERIDÆ; COMPRISING THE CRINOIDEA OR LILY-LIKE ANIMALS; AND THE ASTERIADÆ, OR STAR-FISHES.