274 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cuap. VII. 
reefs, and banks of coral-limestones, and largely contribut- | 
ing to the solid materials of the crust of the globe. Nearly 
400 British species are enumerated by Mr. Morris, and the | 
list has subsequently been greatly extended by the labours 
of Phillips, Portlock, Lonsdale, McCoy, Milne Edwards, and — 
other eminent naturalists. 
The Tertiary formations afford numerous species of Cary-— 
ophylliz, Flustre, Eschare, Spongia, &c.; and the Crag, 
several genera that are as yet but imperfectly determined. — 
The older Tertiary, or Eocene deposits, contain Turbi- — 
noliz, Astreze, Fungize, Meandrine, and species of other — 
genera, the recent types of which are inhabitants of tropical 
seas. 
The zoophytes of the British Chalk have been illustrated — 
in detail by Mr. Lonsdale in Dixon’s Cretaceous and Ter- — 
tiary Fossils of the South-East of England ; and by Dr. © 
Milne Edwards in the Monographs of the Paleontological — 
Society. 
In the Maestricht deposits, lamelliferous corals, as As- — 
tree, Fungiz, Meandrine, &c. prevail, and may be extracted 
from the friable arenaceous limestones in a fine state of 
preservation. In the White Chalk and Greensand of this 
country, the Spongites and allied genera are abundant, and — 
associated with Caryophylliz, Astreze, and many forms of 
Bryozoa. 
But in the cretaceous formation of England, no coral reefs — 
are observable; the zoophytal remains, with but a few local ~ 
exceptions, occur promiscuously intermingled with the fishes, 
shells, Radiaria, and other marine exuvie; although many 
layers, or thin seams of chalk and marl, are largely com- 
posed of the detritus of corals, like the modern deposits of 
the Bermudas (Wond. p. 613). These phenomena are in ac- 
cordance with the lithological characters of the White Chalk 
r 
v 
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strata, and the nature of its mollusca, both of which indicate — 
a deep sea; and coral-reefs are only formed at moderate 
