158 



Honey- Comb Coral. 



inch in diameter. These (Figs. 54, 55) are not fossil 

 honey-comb as many are led to believe, though the resem- 

 blance is so striking that no wonder the public generally 

 are deceived. These specimens are fossil coral, which the 

 paleontologist places in the genus FavosJtes; favosus being 

 a common species in our State. They are very abundant 

 in the lime rock in northern Michigan, and are very prop- 



FlG. 



55- 







Honey-Comb Ccral. 



erly denominated honey-comb coral. The animals of 

 which these were once the skeletons, so to speak, are not 

 insects at all, though often called so by men of consider- 

 able information. 



The species of the genus Favosites first appeared in the 

 Upper Silurian rocks, culminated in the Devonian, and dis- 

 appeared in the early Carboniferous. No insects appeared 

 till the Devonian age, and no Hymenoptera — bees, wasps, 

 etc — till after the Carboniferous. So the old time Favo- 

 sites reared its limestone columns and helped to build islands 



