Structure of the Bdemnite. 391 



pers, it has been stated^ that I had sent word both to Paris 

 and London, of the arrival of Captain Parry on the coast of 

 Kamtschatka : I therefore consider it to be my duty to de- 

 clare, that I have never written a line on the supposed arrival 

 of Captain Parry to any person whatsoever. Kuusenstern, 

 Captain, Commodore in the Imperial Navy. St. Petersburgh, 

 March 26, 1823." 



STRUCTURE OF THE BELEMNITE. 



The following cui"ious particulars on this subject are derived 

 from a Paper which has just appeared in the Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. IX. Part ii., entitled 

 " Observations on the Formation of the Chalk Strata, and on 

 the Structure of the Belemnite. By Thomas Allan, Esq. F.R.S. 

 Edin. 8cc." A notice of Mr. Miller's examination of this enig- 

 matic fossil wilt be found in our Report of the Proceedings of 

 the Geological Society, at p. 236 of the present volume. 



Mr. Allan first gives a particular description of the belem- 

 nite, adverting to its probable nature when a subject of the 

 animal kingdom ; in the course of which he observes " tliat its 

 structure is quite different from that of other calcareous fossils, 

 which are formed in general of the common rhomboidal car- 

 bonate, while it is composed of radiated striae, diverging from 

 a point, which appears to have been dependent on some inter- 

 nal organization ;" and that " its organization may have been 

 composed of a soft membranous substance, easily removed on 

 the animal being deprived of life ;" adducing, in order to con- 

 firm the latter supposition, the circumstance that the belem- 

 nites contained in the Antrim chalk are frequently found to 

 have been perforated by serpultB, and " must have been dead 

 shells at the time they were inclosed in the strata." He then 

 proceeds to descinbe, in the following terms, his investigation 

 of the structure of the belemnite: 



" It is some years ago since I was first led to this observa- 

 tion. While examining a flint which had a portion of a belem- 

 nite, I remarked on the calcareous radiated section of the fossil 

 two or three cii'cular specks of flint ; and as they also made 

 their appearance at the other end, it occurred to me to remove 

 the calcareous matter by means of acid. On the accomplish- 

 ment of this, I was surprised and much interested to find that 

 these specks were the extremities of cylindrical portions of 

 flint, having exactly the form and appearance of arteries, and 

 connected with each other, and with that portion of the cone 

 wliich remained, by means of smaller fibres representing veins, 

 and affording tiie most striking resemblance to an injected ana- 

 tdiiiicid preparation. Tl)is discovery naturally raised my cu- 



riosit}' ; 



