NUMMULITE. 
383 
The Nummulite is the only Genus I shall 
on the present occasion from this Order, 
is included in M. D’Orbigny’s Section Nau- 
tiloids. 
iVunimulites (PI. 44, Fig. 6, 7,) are so called 
*’0111 their resemblance to a piece of money, 
*^^oy vary in size from that of a crown piece to 
‘Microscopic littleness ; and occupy an important 
place in the history of fossil shells, on account 
Ml the prodigious extent to which they are accu- 
‘Mulated in the later members of the Secondary, 
MMd in many of the Tertiary strata. They are 
Mften piled on each other nearly in as close con- 
iMct as the grains in a heap of corn. In this 
state they form a considerable portion of the 
entire bulk of many extensive mountains, e. g. 
*M the Tertiary limestones of Verona and Monte 
Mica, and in secondary strata of the Cretaceous 
Mrination in the Alps, Carpathians, and Pyre- 
Mees. Some of the pyramids, and the Sphinx, 
^ Egypt are composed of limestone loaded with 
l^ummulites. 
It is impossible to see such mountain-masses 
^ the remains of a single family of shells thus 
M ded to the solid materials of the globe, without 
‘'^collecting that each individual shell once held 
M important place within the body of a living 
MMimal ; and thus recalling our imagination to 
Mse distant epochs when the waters of the 
Mcean which then covered Europe were filled 
