and on Fossil Pens and Ink, and CoproUtes. 95 



also of fjccal origin. On examination, he found many of them 

 to contain scales of fishes, and to bear on their surface impres- 

 sions derived from the intestines in which they were formed ; 

 and Dr Pi-out's analysis proves their composition to be the same 

 as tliat of other coprolites. The spiral intestines of the mo- 

 dern shark, ray, and dog-fish, afford an analogy that may ex- 

 plain the origin of their spiral structure, as well as that of the 

 spiral structure of many coprolites at Lime Regis ; and the 

 teeth and palates of sharks, and other cartilaginous fishes, that 

 abound in the same chalk-marl with them, render it probable 

 that the supposed iule have been derived from some of these 

 animals. Until this point can be fully established, it is pro- 

 posed to designate them by the name of luloideo-coprus. 

 There are several fine specimens of this luloideo-coprus from 

 the quarries of Maestricht, in the collection of Colonel Houlton 

 of Farley Castle, near Bath. Dr Buckland has also discovered 

 a coprolile among fossils he possesses from the London clay ; 

 and has found two other varieties of the same substance in a 

 collection lately made at Aix, in Provence, by Mr Murchison 

 and Mr Lyell. One of these coprolites is in the shale of the 

 fresh -water coal formation at Fuveau ; the other in the insecti- 

 ferous marl-bed above the gypsum at Aix. Dr Buckland coru 

 eludes that he has established, generally, the curious fact, that, 

 in formations of all ages, from the carboniferous limestone to 

 the diluvium, the faeces of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous 

 animals have been preserved. The examples he produces from 

 the carboniferous limestone, the lias, the Hastings sandstone, 

 the green sand, the chalk-marl and chalk. The Maestricht 

 rock, the London clay, the fresh-water deposites at Aix, and 

 the diluvium in caverns, are taken respectively from the several 

 great periods into which geological formations are divided. 

 They are important, as shewing a continued ti-anquil condition 

 of the earth's surface to have prevailed for some time, where- 

 ever they occur abundantly. 



A letter from Dr Prout to Professor Buckland, was read on 

 the 3d of April 1829, stating that he has made an analysis of 

 the coprolites from Lyme Regis, and Westburn-on-Severn, and 

 found the composition of all of them to be very similar, viz. 

 phosphate of lime, and carbonate of lime, together with minute 



