UPPER, OR FLINTY CHALK. 



175 



a. b. c. 



Fig. a. A ventriculite in an expanded state, shewing the inner 

 surface. 



Fig. b. A specimen partially contracted, exhibiting the external in- 

 tegument. 



Fig. c. A ventriculite more expanded, and exposing the internal 

 cavity. 



From what has been remarked, I am therefore led to conclude that 

 the ventriculites were more nearly related to the actinite*, than to the 



* The following interesting fact was communicated to me by George Cumberland, Esq. 

 of Bristol, (a gentleman well known for his various communications on subjects connected 

 with Geology) ; and as it offers a pleasing illustration of the manner in which the nutrition of 

 the softer zoophytes is effected, it is here inserted. 



A few years since, in the summer season, Mr. Cumberland was on a visit at , and 



during a ramble on the sea-shore, his attention was arrested by a group of the Actinia 

 mesembiyanthemum, ( Ellis' ZoopJiijtes, page 4,) attached to a rock, left bare by the recession of 

 the tide. While examining these curious objects, a fisherman who stood near, observed that 

 " they sea flowers were strange things, for they lived upon sprats, and fed only once a year ;" 

 and upon Mr. C. expressing his surprise at the remark, his informant assured him that the fact 

 was indisputable, and might be easily verified in the sprat season. Determined to investigate 

 the si^ject, Mr. C. marked the spot to which the zoophytes were attached, and upon 

 revisiting it in the autumn of the following year, the small disciform actinia: 'aocre no longer to he 

 seen, hid their place 'was occupied hy several elongated cylindrical bodies, several inches in length, 

 and without any perceptible aperture. He immediately detached one of them from the rock, and upon 



