165 
TAB. CCLXXXII. 
CAWULX carbonata, var. Stalactitica. 
Stalactitic Carbonate of Lime. 
Div. 2. Imitative. 
ed 
Tue remarkably chimerical or whimsical appearance of the 
formation of this Carbonate is truly admirable and in- 
structive, showing that Nature kindly indulging us with so 
many elegances for amusement, knowledge, and improve- 
ment, must excite the most lively sensation of gratitude in 
every sensible mind. ‘ 
I consider this as a sort of gradation from the Carbonate 
of Lime with the usual rhomboidal fracture, to the hard Car- 
bonate of Lime with the irregular or rather flinty fracture. Its 
fracture is rather curved and irregularly plated. It is some- 
what harder than the former, and generally of rather more 
specific gravity. Sometimes the harder Carbonate of Lime 
—see the next plate—partly coalesces with it; see the 
opaquely tinted whiter parts. 
The varieties of its forms are beyond description ; and 
the manner of the curvature in every varied direction. 
Branching, and inosculating, is not only new, but rare in 
Carbonate of Lime, nor do I know that it has been before 
described. It must be observed that the Sulphate of Lime, 
tal. 21, however curved, is more involute, and otherwise 
varying. The specimen here figured differs somewhat in 
hardness: the more opaque parts, however, are in general 
hardest. It is mostly semitransparent, with a somewhat 
