1825.] Mr, Lemon on some iingiilar Fossil Nuts, 431 



BnissvB, Klein, "Nuces, Van Phel, 



Body ovate ; ambulacra four, the hinder wanting, all sur- 

 rounded by a groove. 



*B. ventricosus, Leske. Kleiuy t. 26, f. A.; unicolor, Leske* 

 Klein, t. 26, f. B C. ^^*B. carinatus, Leske, t. 48, f. 4, 5. Seba^ 

 in. t. 14, f. 3, 4. B. columbaris, *Se6«, iii. 1. 10, f. 19. 



Ova, VanPheL Brissoides, Klein, 



Body ovate, deeply grooved in front; ambulacra five, im- 

 pressed. 



O. canaliferus. Spatangus, Lam. Klein, t. 27, f. A. 



The Spatangus prunella. Lam. Ka^nig, Icones Foss. Sectiles, 

 t.3,f.34, appears to be the type o^ Van P he Is am' s genus Amygdala, 

 which is pecuhar for the anus being nearly dorsal ; and Spatangus 

 radiatuS; Klein, t. 2, 5, appears to form a new genus. 



Article V. 



lingular Fossil Nuts. By J. L. Levison, Esq. 

 (To the Editors of the Annals of Philosophy.) 



GENTLEMEN, 54, Berwick-street, Oxford-street. 



As I am in possession of some fossil nuts which I think 

 highly interesting in a scientific view, particularly as I do not 

 recollect having seen them noticed in any work on geology, I 

 will, therefore, briefly state their history. They are, or appear to 

 be, a similar kind to our common wood nuts, and were found 

 near the Giant's Causeway in the North of Ireland ; the kernels 

 are changed into carbonate of lime, with a slight trace of iron; 

 they have quite a chalcedonic aspect, are translucent, and much 

 harder than common limestone fossils ; in their general appear- 

 ance they, in common with other organic remains, have all 

 the peculiarities of the original substance ; these appear to be 

 worm-eaten, the places originally perforated remaining ; but the 

 phenomena I would more particularly request your attention to 

 are, that the shells of these nuts are unaltered in their peculiar pro^ 

 perties; they are slightly discoloured, they retain the ligneous 

 appearance, burn with a bright flame, which converts them into 

 charcoal : the only difference I can detect in these fossil shells 

 from recent ones is, that during combustion they give out a 

 sulphurous odour, and do not make any crackling noise. With 

 these shells and nuts are found fragments of fossil wood (proba- 

 bly from the tree the nuts grew upon) perfectly converted into 

 carbonate of lime ; and what appears to me the most enigmatical 

 is, that the shells have not any adventitious earthy matter, and 

 that these pieces of wood do not retain any of the original sub- 



