CORNUA AMMONIS. 11 



the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall;J 

 but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave 

 way, the bird was flung from her nest ; and, though 

 her parental affection deserved a better fate, was 

 whipped down by the twigs, which brought her 

 dead to the ground. 



III. 



THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of 

 stone, such as have fallen within my observation, 

 must not be passed over in silence. And, first, I 

 must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen 

 that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near 

 the side of the Down, and given to me for the 

 singularity of its appearance, which, to an incu- 

 rious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four 

 inches long, the cardo passing for an head and 

 mouth. It is in reality a bivalve of the Linnsean 

 genus of mytilis and the species of crista galli: 

 called by Lister, rastellum ; by Rumphius, ostreum 

 plicatum minus; by D'Argenville, auris, porci, 

 crista galli : and by those who make collections, 

 cock's comb. Though I applied to several such 

 in London, I never could meet with an entire 

 specimen ; nor could I ever find in books any 

 engraving from a perfect one. In the superb 

 museum at Leicester House, permission was 

 given me to examine for this article ; and though 

 I was disappointed as to the fossil, I was highly 

 gratified with the sight of several of the shells 

 themselves, in high preservation. This bibalve 

 is only known to inhabit the Indian Ocean, where 

 it fixes itself to a zoophyte, known by the name 

 gorgonia. 



Cornua ammonis are very common about this 

 village. As we were cutting an inclining path up 



