92 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



even if his theory, which was received with almost 

 universal admiration at first, should be found not to 

 cover the whole of the phenomena concerned ; and 

 he himself, I am sure, would be amongst the first, 

 were he alive, to admit the validity of evidence that 

 seemed to be true and reliable ; yet I cannot help 

 feeling that after all his explanation does account 

 for many of the facts of the case. 



Montgomery, in his Pelican Island has described 

 this coral fabric as 



" The mausoleum of its architects, 

 Still dying upwards as their labours closed ; 

 Slime their material, but the slime was turned 

 To adamant by their petrific touch ; 

 Frail were their frames, ephemeral their lives 

 Their masonry imperishable." 



There were also several stone-lilies (Encrinites), 

 with their many-jointed stalks, and which sometimes 

 may be discovered with their flower-shaped cups 

 surmounting the stalks. The separated joints of 

 the stalks, each of which is a distinct animal, have 

 some resemblance to beads ; hence, in different parts 

 of the country, they are known as " St. Cuthbert's 

 beads " and " wheel stones." Like the coral, this 

 substance is really made up of the skeletons of the 

 creatures which once existed in it, and so enormous 

 was the number of them that whole beds of lime- 

 stone owe their formation almost entirely to them 

 as, for instance, the encrinital limestone. 



Nothing else invited special remark except the 

 lamp-shells. These are bivalves, and are called 



