FOSSIL COEALS— cuvder's discoveeies. 183 



called corals, are fabricated by the animalcules which inhabit the cells when living, in the same 

 manner as is the honeycomb of the bee and wasp. This opinion is utterly erroneous : the coral 

 is secreted by the integuments or membranes with which when recent it was invested and 

 permeated ; in like manner as are the bones of the skeleton in the higher orders of animals 

 by the tissues designed for that especial purpose, and wholly without the cognisance or control 

 of the creature of which they constitute the internal support. 



A general idea of the nature of the compound coral-zoophytes may be obtained by the 

 examination of the common Flustra or Sea-mat. This form of polyparia, when taken out of 

 the water, appears to the naked eye like a patch of fine varnished net-work, adhering to a piece 

 of sea-weed or stone ; when viewed with a magnifying lens of moderate power, the surface 

 is found beset with pores regularly disposed : and if the Flustra be examined while immersed in 

 sea-water, its surface is seen to be invested by a gelatinous substance, and every pore is the 

 aperture of a cell, whence issues a tube fringed at the extremity with long tentacula or feelers. 

 These expand, then suddenly contract, withdraw into the cell, and again issue forth : the whole 

 surface of the Flustra being studded with the hydralike animalcules ; each enjoying a distinct 

 existence, the entire group being united by one common integument or calcareous frame-work. 

 "When the Flustra is exposed to the air, the polypes soon perish, the animal matter rapidly 

 decomposes, and the calcareous lace-like skeleton alone remains. In the larger and more 

 compact corals the phenomena are similar, differing only in degree. In a fossil state, the durable 

 remains of the corals consist for the most part of the calcareous framework (or polyparium, 

 as it is termed), which often possesses a crystalline structure ; and in some instances is completely 

 transmuted into silex, as in specimens from Antigua, the Falls of the Ohio, and from Tisbury 

 in Wiltshire. (See Plate XXXVIII. figs. 12, 13.) 



I must refer to the Wonders of Geology for a more extended notice of fossil corals, and 

 other zoophytes, and will only add that the calcareous and siliceous spines or spicula, not only 

 of sponges, but also of Gorgoniaj, and other corals, are often met with in a fossil state.' 



IX. Cuvier's Discoveries. The Fossil Quadrupeds of Montmartre. (Plate LXXII.) — The 

 Palffiotheria, Anoplotheria, and other genera of extinct quadrupeds related to the Tapir, whose 

 remains were first noticed in the gypseous limestone of Montmartre, near Paris, and which have 

 since been found in many other localities of the same strata, are familiar to every one, from the 

 just celebrity attached to the labours of the illustrious Cuvier, who restored as it were these 

 lost denizens of an earlier world, in their native character and forms, and distinguished them 

 by names long since become classical in the sciences which treat of the ancient history of the 

 earth and its inhabitants. 



The gypsuui quarries spread over the flanks of Montmartre were many years since known 

 to contain fossil bones of extinct quadrupeds, and some of these had been figured and described 

 in 1768 by Guettard, and afterwards by Pralon, Lamanon, and Parumot : but it was not till the 

 attention of M. Cuvier was directed to the subject by some specimens put into his hands by 

 M. Vuarin. that the interest and importance of these fossils were understood. The curiosity 

 of Baron Cuvier was so much excited by an inspection of a large collection of these bones, soon 

 after he had been successfully engaged in the investigation of the remains of fossil Elephants 

 and Mastodons, that he immediately began to obtain specimens from the quarries, and by 

 liberally rewarding the workmen, and by unremitting personal research, he soon accumulated 

 an immense quantity of bones of all sorts, belonging to numerous individuals. He now pei'ceived 

 ' See Wonders of Geology, vol. ii. Lect. ri. p. 634. 



