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 Favosites; favosus being 

 a common species in our State. They are very abundant 

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



FiG. 55. 



iiis# 



Jfoney-CoinO 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 tlie Devonian, and dis- 

 api^eared in the earl\- Carhonifeioiis. No insects appeared 

 till the De\iiaiaa a;^e, and no Plymenoptera — bees, wasps, 

 etc. — till after the (.'aiboniferous. So the old time Favo- 

 sites reared its limestone colunnis and helped to build islands 



