196 ORGANIC REMAINS. 



very long stalk. Others have an oblong oval form, and bear somere- 

 serablanee to almonds. The appearance of such fossils has often made 

 them pass for petrified friiit, or petrified fungi; and indeed we could 

 as soon believe, that fruits and mushrooms might be converted into 

 stone, as that soft gelatinous alcyonia could undergo this transmuta'- 

 tion. — No. 3, which is from the oolite, and highly siliceous, displays 

 traces of the longitudinal edges of the lamellae; though they are 

 detected rather by their dark colour than their prominency. The 

 starry disk, though obscure, may also be perceived. Many fossils of 

 the same shape are found in the chalk, some of them of a considerable 

 size ; and in several of them little or no trace of the madreporean 

 structure can be seen. Some of them are in the shape of a cucum- 

 bex-. They all appear to be varieties of madrepore, or at least of 

 coral. 



Yet No. 1 and No. 6, which are both from the chalk, and are 

 obviously the same fossil in difterent states, are not of the same 

 species as No. 3, and probably were never crowned with a star; their 

 upper surface, which is depressed in the centre, exhibiting a multitude 

 of pores; several of which are open in No. 6 to a certain depth, but 

 which are all filled with silex in No. 1. In this specimen, as in many 

 others, there are numerous warty excrescences, both on the disk and 

 on the lateral surface. The edges of the lamellae, if these two fossils 

 have had any, are entirely concealed. 



Figure 7, which is from the oolite, and is remarkable for its 

 fungiform shape, has the same porous upper surface as we find in No. 

 6, but the lateral edges of the lamellae are very distinct and prominent: 

 traces of them may even be seen on the border of the disk. The 

 deeply chanaielled surface under the disk, together with the shape of 

 the latter, and of the stalk, makes the fossil bear a very striking 

 resemblance to a mushroom. It has no doubt, like other madrepores, 

 derived its form from the labours of the animals called polypes; and 



