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body, whose form, structure, and composition, have all contributed to 

 render it one of the most perplexing puzzles which have engaged the 

 attention of oryctologists. 



LXXVI. Belemnites, a conical or fusiform stone, of brown radiating 

 spar, generally terminating at the small end in a point, and having, at 

 the larger end a conical cavity, naturally retaining a conical testaceous 

 body, divided into chambers, and pierced by a siphunculus. 



Various names have been assigned to this fossil ; many of which, 

 derived from the ridiculous notions entertained by the vulgar, in the 

 early ages, need only be mentioned. Such are, devil's fingers, Spectro- 

 rum candda, and id&us dactylus, from their having somewhat of the form 

 of fingers, and from being found on Mount Ida ; and Lapides lyncis, from 

 their supposed origin from the urine of the lynx. Ovid, alluding to 

 this notion, says : 



Victa racemifero lynces dedit India Baccho : 

 E quibus, ut memorant, quidquid vesica remisit, 

 Vertitur in lapides, et congelat acre tecto.' 



METAMORPH. Lib. xv. v. 413. 



The colour of this fossil is generally brown, in different shades, but it 

 varies much in its degree of opacity, in different specimens ; some being 

 so transparent as to allow the rays of light to pass through very freely, 

 whilst others are nearly opaque. In their forms they display a still 

 greater variety. Some are cylindrical, some pyramidal, and others 

 fusiform. The smaller end of some are pointed, of some rounded, and 

 of others rounded in a certain degree, but terminating in an abruptly 

 projecting point. Some writers have spoken of bent belemnites, but I 

 do not believe that this form naturally exists. The supposition of their 

 existence has, I believe, been founded chiefly on a belemnite figured by 

 Lhwydd, LithophyL No. 1683 ; but Lhwydd describes the specimen as 

 being compressed, and of course its bent form may be fairly attributed 

 to violence. Some belemnites, and particularly the fusiform, have a 



