Petrifactions. MINERALOGY. Petrifactions. 
528 
but in this table the whole filh is fo perfeltly perferved, 
that there can remain not the leaft doubt of its being re¬ 
ally the Afterias Caput Medufae; and in this both the 
figure and author’s words exprefs, in the plaineft manner 
poffible, that the long arms or branches, reaching from 
one end to the other of the done, are compofed of a num¬ 
ber of entrochi as it were, tied together in the fame man¬ 
ner as the fingle joints of thofe entrochi which we meet 
with are to one another ; or, in plain faft, that our en¬ 
trochi, which have perplexed us fo much to account for 
their origin, are in reality the fragments of the arms or 
branches of this fifh. Thefe branches in this famous fpe- 
cimen were compofed of what we call tr.ochita ; and had 
many rudiments of fmaller branches, as well as perfect 
ones, growing from their fides; and would have been fo 
many common entrochi, if broken off. What was moll 
remarkable in this foffil was, however, the feparating of 
fmaller branches which ran entire to their ends, and there 
terminating in an infinite number of fmall ramifications, 
nil growing from one head, they formed clufters of four 
or five inches in diameter, and of inconceivable beauty, 
refembling the compound flower of fome elegant plant. 
The matter of the large branches, when examined, ap¬ 
peared to be the fame with that of the common entrochi, 
that is, fpar. The author calls it felenites ; but that was a 
word indeterminately ufed by authors, till of late, for all 
plated and bright folTils. It is plain that this complete 
fifh could have no way come into this ftone but at the 
time when it was yet moift and foft: and the author calls 
it novum diluvii monumentnm, “a new remembrancer of 
the deluge.” 
2. Helmintholithus echini: the Echinus, or fea-hedge- 
hog; including, as, the entire animal; ( 3 , its parts. 
a. Of entire echini, no fewer than fifty-one fpecies are 
enumerated as having been found at various times in Eng¬ 
land, France, Germany, Swifi’erland, and Italy ; and many 
more might probably be added, even amounting perhaps 
to the whole number (109) of which that genus confifts. 
It is evident, indeed, that every animal and vegetable fub- 
flance is liable to be in the fltuation of becoming a petri- 
fadtion ; to enumerate, therefore, the fpecies that have 
been difcovered in that ftate, and defcribed by various 
authors, would be after all but giving an imperfedl and 
uninteiefting catalogue. We lhall therefore, in the pre- 
fent inflance, forbear to enumerate the Ipecies ; and mere¬ 
ly refer to the article Echinus, vol. vi. p. 227 & feq. 
(?. This divifion includes fpecimens, 1. Of the fpines, 
denominated Jew’s-llone, of which there are nine varieties 
that do not require particular notice; 2. Of the knobs; 
3. Of the feparate compartments of the Ihell; and, 4. Of 
the teeth of the Ihell; which lafl are found abundantly in 
Great Britain, and various other parts of the globe ; the 
lpines are fhortemr longer, fmooth, ftriated, orftudded. 
3. Helmintholithus chiton; found near Creazzo, in the 
Venetian territories. 
4. Helmintholithus lepadis; the acorn-fhell. u. L. ba- 
lanus is found in Piedmont, in fandftone; in Malta, Lan¬ 
guedoc, and near Drefden in Saxony. L. balanoides. 
y. L. tintinnabulum. S'. L. mitella. The three lafl: are 
found in Piedmont, either in fandflone or marble. Mr. 
Parkinfon fays, although feveral fpecies of the Lepas have 
been found in a mineralized ftate, they are by no means 
frequent foflils. The L. anferifera is faid to have been 
found foffil, and fo has the L. diadema: thefe muft, how¬ 
ever, be exceedingly rare foflils. 
5. Helmintholithus pholadis. The Pholas in a foflil 
ftate is by no means common ; but the Pli. crilpata has 
been found among the Harwich foflils; others have been 
difcovered in Piedmont, generally imbedded in flint or 
iimeftone. 
6. Helmintholithus mya. Found in a foflil ftate in Eng¬ 
land, Arabia, Belgium, Swifferland, Germany, France, 
and other parts of the continent. The Mya piftorum is 
defcribed by Solander as exifting among our Hamplhire 
foflils; a foflil mya of three or four inches in length is 
found in the rocks near Bognor in Suffex. 
7. Helmintholithus folenites. The folen in a foflil 
ftate is found in Arabia, Belgium, Swiflerland, Germany, 
France, and other parts of the European continent. Re¬ 
mains of the S. filiqua, and of the S. enlis, have been 
found at Harwich ; and a fmall foflil fliell, named by So¬ 
lander S. ficus, has been found between Lymington and 
Chriftchurch. 
8 . Helmintholithus tellinus, the tellina. Found foflil 
in Gloucefterlhire, Italy, Swifferland, Bohemia, Auftria, 
&c. in clay or Iimeftone. The varieties are, a. T. lingua 
felis, in the limeftone-mountains of Swiflerland and Wir- 
temberg. / 3 . T. roftrata, at or near Ball in Wirtemberg, 
in calcareous earth, y. T. donacina, near Herbipolis, in 
Iimeftone. 
9. Helmintholithus bttcardites; the cardium, or cockle. 
Found in a foflil ftate in the clay-pits at Richmond in 
Surry; at Sherborne in Gloucefterlhire; in the cliffs at 
Harwich; on Shooter’s-hill; and in vaft maffes of grey 
Iimeftone in the county of Cork ; in Germany, Italy, Bo¬ 
hemia, Auftria, and other parts of the continent. 
10. Helmintholithus madtrae. This is found in the foflil 
ftate in Piedmont, about Verona in Italy, in England and 
Germany, generally calcareous. 
11. Helmintholithus donacites. The Donax fcortum 
and D. irus are found in Germany and Swiflerland. 
12. Helmintholithus veneris. Different fpecies of the 
Venus are found in this and other countries of Europe; 
and the V. paphia is met with on the continent of America. 
13. Helmintholithus fpondyli. The Spondylus gasda- 
ropus is found in America, Swifferland, and Germany ; 
and the S. regius in marble, near the falt-fprings in Upper 
Auftria. 
14. Helmintholithus chamites. Of the Chama eight 
fpecies are found in a foflil ftate in the foutliern parts of 
Europe. 
15. Helmintholithus arcse. The Area is found in the 
cliffs at Harwich, and various parts of Gloucefterlhire 
and Oxfordlhire, and likewife in many parts of Germany 
and Swifferland. 
16. Helmintholithus oftreae. The oyfter, or fcallop- 
Ihell, is found foflil in different counties of England, as 
Gloucefterlhire, Berklhire, Oxfordlhire; alfo in Italy, Ger¬ 
many, and moll countries of Europe; in chalk, flint, mar¬ 
ble, clay, fandftone, &c. 
a. Scallops. The Oftrea radiata is found near Witney 
and Gravefend ; and in Germany. Twelve other fpecies 
are enumerated as occurring in the Venetian territories, 
Malta, Hungary, and divers parts of Germany, Italy, 
and Swifferland. 
/?. Oyfters. The O. diluviana, O. folium, and O. edur 
lis, are found in various parts of the globe. 
17. Helmintholithus anomites. No bivalve exifts as a 
foflil in fuch prodigious number as the Anomia. Thefe 
Ihells are charadlerifed by the beak of the larger or un¬ 
der valve, which is perforated, being greatly produced, 
rifing or curving over the beak of the fmaller or upper 
valve. Twenty-one of thefe fpecies of Ihells are men¬ 
tioned by Gmelin, of which the following feem moll 
worthy of notice. 
y. A. gryphus; found in England, France, Germany, 
Swiflerland, &c. in gravel or clay-pits, fometimes with 
both Ihells joined. 
1. A. lacunofa is one of the moll abundant of thefe 
fpecies. They are found in confiderable numbers in dif¬ 
ferent parts of England; but particularly in Lincolnlhire, 
Warwicklhire, and Gloucefterlhire. 
p. A. terrebratula; found fixed or detached, in lime 
or flint, and fometimes filled with fpar, near Witney in 
Oxfordlhire, and alfo at Gravefend ; likewife in Ger¬ 
many, Saxony, Bohemia, Auftria, and moft parts of the 
continent. 
18. Helmintholithus mytilites ; the Mytilus, or mulcle- 
Ihell. 
