FOSSIL FAUNA. 109 



PLATE XLV. 



Fossil Corals and other Zoophytes. 



Fig. 1. "A fossil body, from near Bath, the surface of which is covered by stelliform markings, 

 which seem to have been formed by a coralloid." — Parkinson. This fossil is supposed 

 by Mr. Morris to be the cast of one of those mollusca which form and inhabit hollows 

 in stone, coral, &c. (hence termed Lithodomi). In the present instance, the mollusk 

 had bored into a mass of coral, the imprints of the stellular polype-cells of which 

 remain on the surface of the cast. It closely resembles fig. 3, Plate XXXVI. of 

 Faujas St. Fond, Hist. Mont. St. Pierre, which is described as a coral ; it is the 

 Astrea geometrica, of Goldfuss. 



Fig. 2. A fossil coral from Maestricht. At b, is shown an enlarged view of one of the stars. 



Fig. 3. " A siliceous fossil from Essex." — Mr. Parkinson. ( Ventriculites racemostis, of Mr. 

 Toulmin Smith.) I must confess myself unable to determine the nature of this 

 specimen. 



Figs. 4, & 6. Corals from the cretaceous strata of St. Peter's Mountain, Maestricht {Gorgoniii 

 bacillaris ? of Goldfuss). At a, is shown one of the cells in fig. 6, magnified. 



Fig. 5. A pebble, split asunder, exposing the remains of a spongite, which formed the nucleus 

 of the flint.i 



Fig. 7. Another spongite in a pebble ; from Sewardstone, Essex. 



Fig. 8. A waterworn, silicified, or rather chalcedonic Ventriculite, from France. 



Fig. 9. A very beautiful transverse section of the stem of a Ventriculite in a flint ; the colour of 

 the original being retained. This was another precious gem in the estimation of the 

 amiable author of " The Organic Remains of a Former World." 



Fig. 10. A portion of a Choanite in flint ; from gravel, Islington. 



Fig. 11. A perfect specimen of a small simple coral {Fimyia), from Maestricht. 



Fig. 12. A spongite in a pebble; similar to fig. 5. Such specimens are very common in the 

 shingle along the sea-shore at Brighton, Dover, &c. 



Fig. 13. a fossil coral in limestone, from Maestricht. It is too imperfectly defined to determine 

 the species or genus ; an enlarged sketch of the structure is given at c. 



' For an account of the formation of flint, see Wonders of Geology, vol. i. p. 300. (6(/i Edition.) 



