Mr. Webster on some new Varieties of Fossil Alcyon'ia, 379 



Examining farther the limestone contained in this stratum, both 

 in the bed and in those masses which had fallen down, and lay about 

 the shore, I observed a great many smooth cylindrical forms as 

 perfect and sharp as though they had been sculptured. PL 27, fig. 2. 

 These penetrated the rock in all directions, many projecting above 

 the ^surface as if carved in basso and alto relievo, and exhibiting 

 sections in every direction according to the fracture of the rock. 

 They were also frequently broken out, leaving a cylindrical cavity 

 where they had been. 



These cylinders varied in size from one inch in diameter to the 

 eighth of an inch, were sometimes straight, generally crooked, hav- 

 ing much the appearance of eels in motion. They were exceedingly 

 smooth on the outside, often slightly tapering, and, as well as the 

 last mentioned form«, had evidently been inclosed in the rock at the 

 time of its formation. When these cylinders were examined care- 

 fully, they appeared also to have an external coating or cortex, but 

 it had been extremely thin, and was always worn off when they had 

 been exposed by being on the surface. 



Although I first noticed these beautiful cylindrical bodies in the 

 limestone, yet I could afterwards trace them in the other parts of the 

 sanditone stratum, although from the softness of the stone they were 

 there almost obliterated ; and I concluded them also to be some fossil 

 organic remains, probably belonging to the class of Zoophytes ; but I 

 could not ascertain that they were parts of the same species as those 

 1 first mentioned, since in no instance could I find them distinctly 

 connected together. Some rocks contained only one class, and some 

 had both confusedly intermixed. 



1 found fragments of these fossils in every part of the island 

 where the sandstone stratum can be seen, and even in the walls of 

 buildings constructed of this stone ; but it was only among the 



3 B 2 



