Fig. 52.—Sphenopteris artemisiæfolia, magnified.
Among the corals of the period, we may include the genera Lithostrotion and Lonsdalea, of which Lithostrotion basaltiforme ([Fig. 58]), and Lonsdalea floriformis ([Fig. 59]), are respectively the representatives, with Amplexus coralloïdes. Among the Polyzoa are the genera Fenestrella and Polypora. Lastly, to these we may add a group of animals which will play a very important part and become abundantly represented in the beds of later geological periods, but which already abounded in the seas of the Carboniferous period. We speak of the Foraminifera ([Fig. 60]), microscopic animals, which clustered either in one body, or divided into segments, and covered with a calcareous, many-chambered shell, as in [Fig. 60], Fusulina cylindrica. These little creatures, which, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, formed enormous banks and entire masses of rock, began to make their appearance in the period which now engages our attention.
Fig. 53.—Producta Martini. One-third nat. size.
Fig. 54.—Bellerophon costatus. Half nat. size.