186 



PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



Fig. 65 



OOLITIC CORAL. 



die part of the period ; but the species then common 

 resemble so closely those of existing seas in all im- 

 portant points of structure (fig. 65), that it will not be 



necessary to describe 

 them in detail. They 

 differ, indeed, in spe- 

 cific, and often in ge- 

 neric character ; but, 

 in spite of this, there 

 can be no doubt of the 

 general analogy, and 

 we find exactly the 

 same set of contri- 

 vances adopted to pro- 

 vide that varied and 

 effectual resistance to the waves which characterizes 

 the labours of the coral animal, and which are espe- 

 cially seen in those gigantic monuments of its labours 

 distributed over a vast expanse of sea in the Tropics 

 and the southern hemisphere. 



The oolitic encrinites are neither more numerous 

 nor more remarkable than those of an earlier period ; 

 and it would appear, indeed, as if the original form 

 of the development of this tribe had by this time 

 given way to a more advanced type. There are, 

 however, still some, and those very pretty and in- 

 teresting groups of these animals, amongst which we 

 may enumerate a fossil well known to collectors in 

 the west of England as the " pear " or " Bradford " 

 Encrinite. This species grew from a large and swel- 

 ling base attached to a rock or some marine sub- 

 stance ; it was provided with a stout stem of mo- 

 derate length, and the plates of the upper part, or 



