FOSSIL CORALS. 8i 



there is a perfect feast of fat things in the shape of 

 abundant and beautifully preserved Silurian fossils ; 

 and the spot is so quiet, and in the midst of such 

 delightful and little-visited Welsh scenery, that my 

 readers would be thankful for directing them to the 

 place, if it were for that alone. 



The Coniston limestone, which runs an irregular 

 course through the Lake District, is in places full of 

 fossil corals, as at Sunny Brow and Long Steddale. In 

 the neighbourhood of the little town which gives to 

 this stratum its name, may be obtained Montiadipora, 

 Stenopora (or Favosites) fibroses, Petraia, the latter 

 now known to be only natural casts of Cyathophyllwn^ 

 etc. The fossil coral Heliolites megastoma found in 

 this bed is remarkable for its well-developed septse. 

 Some lovely spots may be found where there is good 

 geologizing on these beds. One of the best I know 

 is on the road to Troutbeck, near Windermere. This 

 road crosses the hill where the limestone crops up, 

 and the walls by the roadside are formed of the 

 local rock. They are perfect museums, but, numerous 

 though they are, all the fossils occur as casts or im- 

 pressions ; and the rock is often quite " rotten " from 

 the abundance of these casts. This is due to the 

 lime . (which formerly entered into the composition 

 of the fossils) having been gradually dissolved away 

 by the rain-water which has been percolating these 

 fossiliferous rocks ever since they were converted 

 into dry land. Among the most abundant of the 



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