175 
BELEMNITES minimus. 
TAB. DLXXXIX— /g. 1. 
Spec. Char. Fusiform, squarish, expanded towards 
the apex, cylindrical towards the base ; apex 
indistinctly papillose, each side marked with 
an obscure double furrow ; base not expand- 
ed; a sulcus in the front extending a short 
way from the base. 
Syn. Belemnites minimus. Lister. 
B. Listeri. Mantell , Geol. Suss.p. 88. tab. 19. 
fig. 17. 18. & 23. 
B. minimus. Miller , Geol. Trans. 2d series. 
v. II. p . 62. pi. IX./. 6. De Blainville , 
Mem. sur les Belemn. 75. pi. IV./. 1 . and 
p. Il9.pl. V./ 5. 
This small Belemnite is generally of a rather bright 
yellow brown colour, and possesses much transparency ; 
its outer laminae often show a tendency to flake off* about 
the apex, and the axis is always opaque or tubular from 
decomposition, which shows that the imperfect state of 
the base, which has not only lost the septa that we sup- 
pose from analogy must once have existed within it, but 
also much of its fibrous portion, has arisen from its 
having remained in an exposed situation a long time 
before it was buried in its grave of clay or marl, which 
has preserved its remains for our inspection and admi- 
ration. So much indeed of the fibrous substance has de- 
cayed away from the surface of the conical cavity in 
many cases, that a considerable portion of the axis is 
