THE ARGONAUT.— THE NAUTILUS. 87 



some rocks being composed almost entirely of 

 them. The name ammonite comes from a word 

 meaning ram, as anciently these shells were 

 thought to be ram's horns, which, indeed, they 

 do resemble ; hence popularly called Gornua 

 Ammonis, Jupiter Ammon, an Egyptian deity, 

 being sometimes represented in old sculptures 

 with head and horns of a ram, these latter and 

 the shells bearing a fancied resemblance. 



" They have also been taken by the igno- 

 rant for petrified snakes and called ' serpent 

 stones.' The ignorant have been further de- 

 luded by having these ' serpent stones ' pre- 

 sented to them with a finely carved snake's 

 head at one end of the coil, while a cunningly 

 devised tradition accounted for the general ab- 

 sence of the head upon the ground that a saint 

 had first beheaded the reptiles and afterward 

 changed them into stone. Sir Walter Scott 

 weaves this legend into his poem entitled Mar- 

 mion, when close around the fire 



" Whitby's nuns exulting told 

 How, of thousand snakes, each one 

 Was changed into a coil of stone. 

 When holy Hilda prayed. 



And how 



" Themselves, within their holy bound. 

 Their stony folds had often found. 



