79 
LETTER XL 
FOSSIL ALCYONIA CONSIDERED AS FRUITS BY VOLKMANN AND 
SCHEUCHZER FOSSIL ALCYONIA OF FRANCE DIFFICULTIES IN 
DISTINGUISHING THE FOSSIL SPONGES FROM FOSSIL ALCYONIA... 
VARIOUS SPECIMENS DESCRIBED. 
w E now arrive at the examination of that class of bodies, of which 
it was remarked, in the former volume, that although they were de- 
cidedly animal substances of marine origin, yet, from the resem- 
blance which they bore to terrestrial fruits, their animal origin had 
been doubted, and they had been considered as petrified oranges, figs, 
funguses, nutmegs, &c. 
There is no substance which has attracted our attention, during the 
prosecution of these inquiries, which can yield so many subjects for 
investigation as these bodies. For, whether we consider the peculiar 
forms with which they are endow'ed, the original modes of their exist- 
ence, or the extraordinary changes which they have undergone, a 
variety of subjects of inquiry, of the most curious nature, will neces- 
sarily arise. 
That many terrestrial fruits and seed vessels, containing the ligneous 
matter, have been found in a petrified state, has been already shewn ; 
of these, of course, it is not intended here to speak. But substances 
have been repeatedly met with, the general appearances of which 
have so much accorded with those of some terrestrial fruits, as to have 
led several learned and ingenious men to place them among these 
substances. Thus Volkmann was deceived, and figured and described 
