82 
have been formed chiefly of a parenchymatous substance ; their pedicle 
seems to answer to the stalk ; whilst the opening on their superior part 
agrees with what is termed the eye of fruits. But a little attention 
shews that, unlike to the parenchyma of fruits, which is formed of 
vessels terminating in minute points, the substance of these bodies is 
formed of a species of net-work, which, as M. Guettard observes, if all 
the matter contained within the meshes could be removed, would re- 
semble a skein of thread, of which one part, answering to the pedicle, 
is pinched together, and the other, answering to the body, is spread 
out without being cut. Again, the eye, in fruits, is not pervious, as 
is that part which answers to it in these fossils ; nor does the pedicle 
at all agree with the stalk of fruits, either in proportionate size, or 
in figure. 
Scheuchzer describing a fossil of this kind refers it to the Alcyonium 
stupposum Imperati;* but of the identity of these substances Mons. 
Guettard, with much propriety, doubts ; although he allows that the 
external form, and particularly the opening in the upper part, might 
readily lead to this supposition. This doubt arose in the mind of 
M. Guettard, from comparing the structure of one of the Alcyonium 
stupposum of Imperatus with the description of its structure as given 
by John Bauhin and by Count Marsilli; the result of his comparison 
being, that both the descriptions were in some respects erroneous. 
Taught by careful examination, he states it to be composed of fibres, 
more or less fine, intersecting each other, without order or regularity, 
and anastomosing together by their ramifications, by which they form 
irregular meshes of various figures and quite empty. By this contexture 
a spongy mass is formed, which is covered by a thin pellicle, constituted 
in the same manner, excepting that the texture is more close and com- 
pact, and extended into a membrane-like substance, which may be de- 
tached and easily raised from the body, and which, when examined by 
* Lithograph. Helvet. P. 15. 
