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body, whose form, structure, and composition, have all contributed 
to render it one of the most perplexing puzzles which have engaged 
the attention of oryctologists. 
LXXVI. Belemnites. A conical or fusiform stone, of brown radi- 
ating spar, generally terminating at the small end in a point, and hav- 
ing, at the larger end, a conical cavity, naturally retaining a conical 
testaceous body, divided into chambers, and pierced by a siphunculus. 
Various names have been assigned to this fossil ; many of which, 
derived from the ridiculous notions entertained by the vulgar, in the 
early ages, need only be mentioned. Such are, devil’s fingers, Spec- 
trorum candela, and Idceus dactylus, from their having somewhat of 
the form of fingers, and from being found on Mount Ida ; and Lapides 
lyncis, from their supposed origin from the urine of the lynx. Ovid, 
alluding to this notion, says : 
Victa racemifero lynces dedit India Baccho : 
E quibus, ut memorant, quidquid vesica remisit, 
Yertitur in lapides, et congelat aere tecto. 
Metamorph. Lib. xv. v. 413. 
The colour of this fossil is generally brown, in different shades, but 
it varies much in its degree of opacity, in different specimens ; some 
being so transparent as to allow the rays of light to pass through very 
freely, whilst others are nearly opaque. In their forms they display 
a still greater variety. Some are cylindrical, some pyramidal, and 
others fusiform. The smaller ends of some are pointed, of some 
rounded, and of others rounded in a certain degree, but terminating 
in an abruptly projecting point. Some writers have spoken of bent 
belemnites, but I do not believe that this form naturally exists. The 
supposition of their existence has, I believe, been founded chiefly on 
a belemnite figured by Lhwydd, Lithophyl . No. 1683 ; but Lhwydd 
describes the specimen as being compressed, and of course its bent 
form may be fairly attributed to violence. Some belemnites, and par- 
