133 



LETTER XL 



AMMONITES BACULITES HAMITES SCAPHITES 



TURRILITES. 



LXXVII. Ammonites. A discoidal, spiral, multilocular shell, with 

 turns contiguous, and all apparent on both sides : the chambers 

 divided by sinuous septa, pierced by a siphunculus, difficult to be 

 traced, and never passing through the middle of the septa. 



The shells of this genus are distinguishable from those of Nautilus, by 

 the difficulty of detecting the siphunculus, but chiefly by their turns 

 being all apparent on both sides. 



These are among the fossils, which, from their extraordinary forms, 

 and the frequency with which they have been found, have particularly 

 excited the curiosity of the vulgar ; to gratify which, superstition has 

 lent its aid, by furnishing the tale of their being petrified snakes. Thus 

 the nuns of Whitby 



" told 



How, of thousand snakes, each one 

 Was chang'd into a coil of stone, 



When holy Hilda prayed ; 

 Themselves within their holy bound, 

 Their stony folds had often found. 



Nor did Saint Cuthbevt's daughters* fail 

 To vie with these in holy tale. 



* The Nuns of Lindisfarn, or of Holy Island Monastery. 



