332 Anatomy of the Ventriculites ofMdnteh 



suggests that Job compares the days of his prosperity, in three 

 several degrees, with what we esteem the swiftest in the three 

 elements : namely, with the quick despatches of the post by 

 land ; with the more expeditious motion of papyrine vessels by 

 sea; and, which exceeds them both for swiftness, with the 

 flight of the eagle in the air to his prey. {Chappeloiso,) 



Omitting the many and various other uses of the papyrus, 

 as Theophrastus calls it, 'irpo^ irKeia-rex, xpW^f^^^i I will conclude 

 these observations in the following words of Dr. Shaw : — 

 " The vessels of bulrushes, or paper reeds, that are mentioned 

 both in sacred and profane history, were no other than larger 

 fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses, which, from the 

 late introduction of plank and stronger materials, are now (for 

 the most part) laid aside." (See Travels, p. 437.) 



Yours, &c. John Hogg. 

 St. Peter's College, Cambridge, March 2\, 1829. 



Art. VI. On the Anatomy of the Ventriculites of Mantel. 

 By C. B. Rose, Esq., SwafFham. 



Sir, 

 These fossil bodies were formerly considered to be the 

 petrified remains of oranges, figs, nutmegs, and mushrooms. 

 Volkman figured and described one as Nux moschata fructu 

 rotundo. {Silesice subterranece, tab. 22. f^g, 6.) Scheuschzer 

 adopted the same figure and description. These opinions 

 possess some plausibility, if contemplating the external form 

 only of these remains; and display some advance towards 

 rational investigation, in comparison with the barbarous no- 

 tion, of fossils formed " in the sportive moments of Nature ; " 

 or, " by some latent plastic power of the earth;" or a 

 fortuitous arrangement of materials. 



As natural history became more an object of scientific en- 

 quiry, so became our views of Nature's works more enlarged ; 

 and men saw in these remains the components of a once 

 animated body. About the middle of the last century, M. 

 Guettard published, in the Mem. Acad. Scien. a Paris, a 

 memoir entitled " Sur quelques Corps Fossiles peu connus ; " 

 in which he states that he had examined these bodies, and 

 found them composed of reticulated coats, and tubes that 

 passed from the peduncles into their bodies. He was inclined 

 to think them more allied to Madrepores than ^Icyonia. 



Lhwyd, in his Ichnogrdphia, tab. 2. 176., has figured a 

 Ventriculite somewhat resembling my figure (j%. 100.), and 



