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LETTER XIL 



FOSSIL ALCYONIUM DESCRIBED BY ABBE FORTIS... .SPECIMENS OF 

 VARIOUS INEDITED FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES DESCRIBED. 



J USTJCE to the Abbe Fortis impels me to remark, that the observa- 

 tions here adduced on the fossil alcyonium, depicted Plate X. Fig. 11, 

 are derived from a manuscript tract, which I was so fortunate as to 

 purchase at the sale of the late Mr. Strangers library, and which, I 

 have every reason to believe, proceeded from the pen of that excel- 

 lent oryctologist. The specimen here represented, I also obtained 

 from the previous sale of the fossils of Mr. Strange, and it appears to be 

 the more valuable, from my not having seen any similar specimen in 

 other collections. The above-mentioned tract was accompanied by a 

 plate exhibiting the specimens, now in my possession, with four others, 

 shewing the same substance adherent to different shells. According 

 to the Abbe's account, this species of fossil alcyonium commonly 

 forms a covering to shells, and is most frequently seen on a species of 

 nerite. These fossils are found in different parts of Tuscany : the 

 Abbe himself has not only seen them in the neighbourhood of Vo- 

 laterzano, and in a chalky tract towards Sena, which the inhabitants 

 call Le Biancane, but in some others of the Tuscan hills ; and he once 

 saw a specimen of this kind, which had been found in that neighbour- 

 hood, in the museum of Ferdinand Bassi, of Bologna. But these fos- 

 sils are chiefly to be found in the hills of Cerretani, which lay towards 

 Ficeclum, being brought to view by the washing away of the earth 

 by rain. It was from this spot that the specimens which I possess 

 were obtained. It is worthy of observation, that Mercatus does not 



