Notice of Dr. MantelVs Medals of Creation. 127 



In the British strata there are about 60 species of Nautili. 

 The Nautili often form the nucleus of the clay nodules called 

 septaria. 



The OrthocercB sometimes contain more than 60 cells, and 

 they have been observed in Scotland 7 to 8 feet long. 



Ammonites were formerly called snake-stones ; swarms of 

 snakes having been, as the legends report, turned into stone by 

 the prayers of some patron saint. It is supposed that the animal 

 of the Ammonite, like that of the modern nautilus, occupied the 

 outer cell or chamber, which, although narrow, was long enough 

 to contain the soft parts of the Cephalopod. 



There are about 200* species of Ammonites in the British 

 strata, varying in size from half an inch to four feet in diameter, 

 the latter implying of course a colossal animal. 



Among the Annelida, or worms, six fossil species have been 

 observed in Britain in the Silurian system. 



Of British Serpulse there are fifty. 



Crustaceans have been found through the vast series of the 

 fossiliferous strata. Extinct forms appear, in prodigious num- 

 bers, in the most ancient formations, and are succeeded by genera 

 which approach more nearly to the higher organized crustaceans. 

 The crab and lobster tribes are represented by certain species in 

 the lias, oolite, and chalk ; while in many of the tertiary strata 

 the existing types prevail. 



More than 60 species of crustaceans were discovered by Count 

 Munster in the Jura limestone, and more than 30 have been 

 found in the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames. " The laminated 

 marls of Auvergne in France contain, between the contiguous 

 layers, countless myriads of the shells of Cyprides, through a 

 depth of several hundred feet, although each lamina of marl 

 scarcely exceeds the thickness of paper." 



The trilobites are not found above the coal, but abound in the 

 Silurian, while these older formations, through their immense 

 thickness, contain no crabs, lobsters, or similar crustaceans. 



Fossil Insects rarely occur except in a few localities at (Enin- 

 gen, Germany, and at Aix in Provence, France, and in the cream- 

 colored limestone of Solenhofen. Dr. Buckland has given an 

 excellent account of fossil insects in his Bridgewater Treatise. 



* The entire number known is at least 300. — Eds. 



