277 BULIvETlN 5 



Say on Shells, Cffc. 383 



The task presumes the knowledge, not only of fossils in all 

 their different states, from the apparently unchanged specimen, 

 to the fragment or section of a cast uninsulably imbedded in its 

 rocky matrix, but it also requires an adequate acquaintance with 

 recent specimens, or those of which the inhabitants are not 

 yet struck from the list of animated beings, in other words 

 those of the present, as well as those of the former world. 



Due advantage being taken of the many opportunities which 

 are from time to time offered to us, of obtaining knowledge in 

 this department, will probably be the means of producing a list 

 of American animal reliquiae, coextensive with that of Europe 

 at the present day. In the present state of the science, how- 

 ever, the correct naturalist will feel it a duty which he owes 

 to his colaborators to proceed with the utmost caution, that he 

 may not add unnecessarily to the already numerous species. 



Genus Alveolites, Lam. 



Coral lapideous, covering extraneous bodies, or in a simple 

 mass, formed of concentric strata ; strata composed each of a 

 union of numerous alveoles, which are very short, contiguous, 

 reticulate, and generall}^ parallel. 



Species. 



A. glomeratics, alveoles vertical, subequal, oval, or obsoletely 

 hexagonal, much shorter than the diameter, parallel ; paries 

 simple; strata numerous, forming a rounded mass. {Cabinet 

 of the Acadeiny of Natiiral Sciences.^ 



Found often on the coast of North America, cast up by the 

 waves, the animals sometimes still living. Forms masses of 

 various sizes and figures, generally more or less rounded or 

 lobed, and composed of a great number of concentric layers. 

 The number of these strata seems to be regulated in some de- 

 gree, by the quantity of surface they have to cover. Thus if 

 the nucleus happens to be a small shell, such as the Naticcs, 

 NasscB, &c. of our coast, or even the oyster, {O. virginica,') 

 clam, ( F. mercenaria,) &c. the strata are often ver}^ numerous; 



30* 



[A. J. S., ist Ser., Vol. I.] 



