BELEMNITES. 371 
SECTION VIL 
JBelemnite. 
We shall conclude our account of cliambered 
shells with a brief notice of Belemnites. This 
extensive family occurs only in a fossil state, and 
its range is included within that series of rocks 
which in our section are called Secondary.* 
These singular bodies are connected with the 
other families of fossil chambered shells we have 
already considered ; but differ from them in 
having their chambers inclosed within a cone- 
shaped fibrous sheath, the form of which re- 
sembles the point of an arrow, and has given 
origin to the name they bear. 
M. de Blainville, in his valuable memoir on 
Belemnites, (1827) has given a list of ninety- 
one authors, from Theophrastus downwards, who 
have written on this subject. The most intelli- 
gent among them agree in supposing these 
bodies to have been formed by Cephalopods 
allied to the modern Sepia. Voltz, Zieten, 
Raspail, and Count MUnster, have subsequently 
published important memoirs upon the same 
subject. The principal English notices on Be- 
lemnites are those of Miller, Geol. Trans. N. S. 
* The lowest stratum in which Belemnites are said to have 
been found is the Muschel-kalk, and the highest the upper 
Chalk of Maestricht. 
