Prof. Blum on tlie Fossil Eggs of Snakes. 165 



exceed an inch daily. Supposing this to be double the average 

 throughout the year, we shall, instead of three, have eighteen feet of 

 evaporation annually ; or, were this state of matters to prevail all 

 over the world, an amount of three hundred and sixty thousand cubic 

 miles of water raised in vapour from the ocean alone !" — Secretary's 

 Report of the Proceedings of the Bombay Geographical Society for 

 1849-60, p. 55. 



Fossil Eggs of Snakes in the Freshwater Limestone at Beiber^ 

 near Offenbach. ^-^ Professor Blctm.* 



In the mineralogieal cabinet of Herr C. Rossler, so pre- 

 eminently rich in the natural curiosities of the Wetterau, I 

 noticed several longish egg-shaped bodies, similar to others 

 that I had previously seen at the house of Herr Witte, at 

 Frankfort. And these were so much the more interesting, as 

 some doubt still existed with regard to their origin ; some 

 considering them to be inorganic concretions, whilst others 

 regarded them as organic bodies — fossil eggs of snakes or 

 lizards. But no one can doubt that the latter is the correct 

 idea ; for the great uniformity, with respect to shape and 

 size, of the different specimens, and I have seen more than 

 fifty of them, would make them very remarkable as inorganic 

 products, unless this view were supported by other proof. 

 They are 8-10'" long, and 5-6'" thick. The ends taper off in 

 so nearly a uniform manner, that one end scarcely appears 

 broader than the other. They are altogether more cylindri- 

 cal than the eggs of birds. Some specimens are here and 

 there somewhat compressed ; which is easily accounted for by 

 the soft condition of the shell in a recent state. Externally 

 the surface is for the most part rough, like a wrinkled skin. 



These bodies consist generally of calcspar ; a thinnish rind 

 of which supports the outer surface, whilst the inside is more 

 or less hollow and covered with little calcspar crystals. Some- 

 times an elongated calcspar, stretching from side to side, 



* Leonhurd ami Bronn's .Tulnb. fur Miner. 1849, p. 673 675. 



