FOSSIL PENS. 
feiTed to a fossil state, without much diminution 
of its l)idk.* 
PI. 28, Fig. .5, represents an ink-bag of a 
rocent Cuttle Fish, in )vhich the ink is preserved 
10 a desiccated state, being not much diminished 
from its original volume. Its form is similar to 
t^iat of many fossil ink-bags (PI. 20, Figs. 8 — 10), 
and the indurated ink within it differs only from 
tJie fossil ink, inasmuch as the latter is impreg- 
nated Math carbonate of lime. 
In a communication to the Geological Society, 
Pebruary 1829, I announced that these fossil 
ink-bags had been discovered in the Lias at 
Pyme Regis, in connexion with horny bodies, 
I'esembling the pen of a recent Loligo. 
These fossil pens are without any trace of 
nacre, and are composed of a thin, laminated. 
So completely are the character and qualities of the ink 
retained in its fossil state, that when, in 1826, I submitted a 
portion of it to my friend Sir Francis Chantrey, requesting him 
to try its power as a pigment, and he had prepared a drawing 
rvith a triturated portion of this fossil substance ; the drawing 
Was shewn to a celebrated painter, without any information as 
to its origin, and he immediately pronounced it to be tinted 
With sepia of excellent quality, and begged to be informed by 
w at colourraan it was prepared. The common sepia used in 
^rawing is from the ink-bag of an oriental species of cuttle-fish. 
e ink of the cuttle-fishes, in its natural state, is said to be 
° 'rble only in water, through which it diffuses itself instanta- 
oaously ; being thus remarkably adapted to its peculiar service 
O' the only fluid wherein it i.s naturally employed. 
G. 
X 
