have been formed chiefly of a parenchymatous substance; their pedicle 

 seems to answer to the stalk; whilst the opening on their superior part 

 Agrees with what is termed the eye of fruits. But a little attention 

 shews that, unlike to the parenchyma of fruits, which is formed of 

 vessels terminating in minute points, the substance of these bodies is 

 formed of a species of net-work, which, as M. Guettard observes, if all 

 the matter contained within the meshes could be removed, would re- 

 semble a skain of thread, of which one part, answering to the pedicle, 

 is pinched together, and the other, answering to the body, is spread 

 out without being cut. Again, the eye, in fruits, is not pervious, as 

 is that part which answers to it in these fossils ; nor does the pedicle 

 at all agree with the stalk of fruits, either in proportionate size, or 

 in figure. 



Scheuchzer describing a fossil of this kind refers it t o the Alcyoniwn 

 stuppomm Imperati *; but of the identity of these substances Mons. 

 Guettard, with much propriety, doubts ; although he allows that the 

 external form, and particularly the opening in the upper part, might 

 readily lead to this supposition. This doubt arose in the mind of M. 

 Gueltard, from comparing the structure of one of the Alcyonium 

 stupposum of Imperatus with the description of its structure as given 

 by John Bauhin and by Count Marsilli ; the result of his comparison 

 being, that both the descriptions were in some respects erroneous. 

 Taught by careful examination, he states it to be composed of fibres, 

 more or less fine, intersecting each other, without order or regularity, 

 and anastomosing together by their ramifications, by which they form 

 irregular meshes of various figures and quite empty. By this contexture 

 a spongy mass is formed, which is covered by a thin pellicle, constituted 

 in the same manner, excepting that the texture is more close and com- 

 pact, and extended into a membrane-like substance, which maybe de- 

 tached and easily raised from the body, and which, when examined by 



* Lithograph. Helret. P. 1 5. 



