734 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. VII 



remains entombed in the deposits that are associated with 

 those which have proved so rich and varied a field of bota- 

 nical research. The Zoophytes and Mollusca are for the 

 most part marine, and in a great measure confined to the 

 limestones below the coal. The Corals amount to many 

 species ; and consist of various kinds of Tubipora, Syringo- 

 pora, Catenipora, Cyathophyllum, Astrcea, Turbinolia, &c. 



The mountain limestone sw r arms with Crinoidea, and 

 entire beds are made up of their petrified remains, as was 

 explained in the former Lecture (ante, p. 650) ; and many 

 elegant species of Actinocrrnus, Cyathocrinus, and Platy- 

 crinus, occur in these deposits. 



A singular type of Crinoideans, named Pentreniites(Lign. 

 168, jig. 7), also abounds in the mountain limestone, both in 

 England and America * (ante, p. 656). 



Echinoderms of a peculiar character (Echinoannus), 

 their shells being formed of hexagonal plates, (and not 

 pentagonal as in the Cidares,) have been discovered in the 

 carboniferous limestone of Ireland and Russia. A species 

 of Cidaris ( C. Phillipsii), with large mammillated tubercles 

 and muricated spines, occurs in the Yorkshire limestone, 

 and is the earliest known geological appearance of this 

 family. 



45. Shells of the Carboniferous System. — The 

 remains of nearly 300 species of the various tribes of mol- 

 lusca have been obtained from this formation. Foranii- 

 niferous shells — Rotalicp, Textilancp, FusuUtub — have been 

 detected in slices of the Yorkshire limestone by a micro- 

 scopical examination ; and in Russia the upper beds of the 

 mountain limestone in the Lower Volga, consist of lami- 

 nated calcareous shales composed of an aggregation of the 

 shells of a minute species of Fusulina (F. cylindrical 

 resembling grains of wheat, and allied to the NonumilMB.] 



* Medals of Creation, vol. i. \k 

 f Geology of Kussia, PI. I. fig; 1. 



