424 DOMAIN V. CALCAREOUS. 



STRUCTURE IV. ZOOPHYT1C. 



Of this the ancients appear to have made no 

 use, though it sometimes presents varieties at once 

 uncommon and beautiful. A fine kind, easily had 

 of the marble-cutters at Paris, is of a chocolate 

 brown, with white madrepores of all sizes and 

 descriptions, beautifully variegated with grey and 

 OfCaen. re & This is the celebrated marble of Caen, in 

 Normandy, which may be called the madrepore 

 marble by way of eminence, and of which beauti- 

 ful tables and other ornaments abound in that 

 capital ; even those of the traiteur, in the garden 

 of the Tuilleries, being of exquisite elegance and 

 variety. 



" The marble of Caen is of a dull red, and it 

 has large veins or branches of a grey or white co- 

 lour, which are solely composed of madrepores, 

 distinctly perceptible, either in the form of stars, 

 or that of diverging branches. This is then by 

 excellence a madrepore marble. N 



" Its quarries are in the neighbourhood of Caen, 

 and although it be rather coarse and common, it 

 is much used at Paris, either for the tops of com- 

 modes, or for chimney-pieces, &c. There are 

 tables of it in most of the coffee-houses of Paris; 

 and it is known in commerce by the name of Caen 



