252 



HARDWICKE'S S C IE N CE- GOSS IP. 



up safely. This supposition is favoured by the fact 

 that specimens are recorded in many different years 

 in Lancashire— a county unfavourably situated for 

 migrants'; and this, I think, arises from the large 

 number of resident collectors in that county, and 

 the consequent closeness of observation. I confess, 

 however, that I am now unable to decide between 

 the conflicting arguments. 



It seems probable that most of the specimens still 

 at large went into hybernation during the gales 

 which blew early in September, as the latest notices 

 from various counties seem to be September 5th, 

 8lh, 9th, and 14th, but one is recorded from Scot- 

 land as late as September 2Gth ; and I have just 

 heard of two more stragglers in Norfolk as late as 

 October 5th and 7th. There is reason to hope, 

 therefore, that many fine specimens are in safe 

 quarters, to re-appear next spring. 



Of my own exertions in pursuit of them I have 

 said nothing. It is a painful subject. SufSce it 

 to say that the result of a fortnight, of wliicli every 

 available hour of sunshine was occupied in hunting 

 for them, was that I had seen two specimens, 

 neither of which condescended to come within reach 

 of the net. 



Norwich. Chas. G. Barrett. 



THUNDER-BOLTS. 



THE abundance of a fossil is always indicated by 

 its having a popular name, and the reader can 

 hardly travel over any particular geological locality 

 without finding one or more of its characteristic 

 fossils thus occupying a place in popular nomen- 

 clature. Not a few are the traditions and scraps of 

 folk-lore that cluster around these ancient relics. 

 Thus, at Whitby, the Liassic Ammonites become 

 the snakes which were petrified by "Holy Hilda's" 

 prayers ; and the numerous ossicles, or joints, of the 

 stems of a characteristic Eacrinite {Poitacrinus 

 briareus) are transformed into " St. Cutlibert's 

 Beads" (see Scott's "Mar mion"). In Spain, the 

 Tcrehratula is a charm against tlie cholera, and the 

 fishes' teeth found fossilized in the Miocene beds of 

 jMalta go by the name of " Satan's Claws," — that 

 ubiquitous and evil-disposed individual having torn 

 off his digital extremities whilst vainly endeavour- 

 ing to climb the cliffs ! 



But pcrliaps the geological objects around which 

 most folk-lore and general ignorance exist, are those 

 ancient relics of the secondary rocks known as 

 Belemnitcs, but among the masses better identi- 

 fied as " Thunder-bolts." It is amusing to read the 

 conjectures as to what these objects are, in the pre- 

 tentious woi"ks on natural history of a century ago, 

 when everything was supposed only to have a right 

 to exist in proportion as it was serviceable to man. 

 These Belemnites were then supposed to be whales' 

 and crocodiles' teeth, the spines of an extinct 



hedgehog, &c. They were recommended, in a 

 powdered state, as a sure remedy against nicjlitmare ! 

 To this day, in some parts'of England, they are pre- 

 served as an effectual antidote to witchcraft ! But by 

 far the most prevalent notion is that these fossils are 

 veritable "Thunder-bolts," audit is astonishing how 

 manypeople, otherwise well educated,will innocently 

 ask you whether such is their nature. The species 

 from the Lias formation are the largest, and in them 

 one sees the appropriateness of the name Belemnites, 

 from the Greek word signifying a dart ! (fig. 177). 



Fig:. \". 



Belem7tites hnstata, from 



the Lias. 



Fig:. 1-8. 

 J5. ptisosiiniux, from the Oolite, 

 showing upper portion. 



Where the Liassic rocks have been broken up and 

 scattered during the Glacial period, as in the 

 boulder clays of Norfolk, these extraneous fossils 

 are tolerably common. Not long ago, during a 

 violent thunderstorm in that county, a bullock was 

 struck dead by lightning, and, on going to the 

 carcass shortly after, one of these large derivative 

 fossils was picked up close by where it was lying. 

 What could be a more effectual proof tiiat these 

 were genuine "thunder-bolls," for here was a 

 bullock struck dead daring the thunderstorm, 

 and there was tiie Belemnite? In vain did I 

 attempt to explain — my poor geology had evidently 

 turned my head, for I could not recognise a 

 "thunder-bolt" when I saw one ! 



These Belemnites, or "thunder-bolts," are in 

 reality the terminal bones of extinct species of 



