_subrotundus_, of Parkinson), from Italy.
Fig. 3. The upper surface of an Echinite (_Spatangites_
(_Disaster_, of Agassiz) _ovalis_, of Parkinson); from
Scarborough.
Fig. 4. View of the upper, and fig. 5, of the lower surface of
an Echinite, (_Spatangus_ (_Hemipneaster_, of Agassiz)
_radiatus_, of Parkinson,) from the cretaceous strata of St.
Peter's Mountain, Maestricht.
Fig. 6. A small Echinite (_Echinites_ (_Nucleolites_, of Leske)
_pyriformis_, of Parkinson), from the cretaceous strata of
Maestricht.
Fig. 7. A small Echinite of a different genus (_Echinites_
(_Cassidulus_, of Lamarck,) _Lapis cancri_, of Parkinson),
from Maestricht.
Fig. 8. An Echinite (_Spatangites_ (_Nucleolites_) _brissoides
ovalis_, of Parkinson). Locality unknown.
Fig. 9. A beautiful specimen of a large heart-shaped Echinite of
a recent species (_Spatangus purpureus_), from a modern
tertiary deposit, Malta.
Fig. 10. An Echinite (_Echinodiscus_ (_Clypeaster_) _laganum_, of
Parkinson), from a tertiary deposit, Verona.
Fig. 11. This Is a very abundant Spatangus or heart-shaped
echinite, (_Spatangus cor marinum_, of Parkinson; _Cor
testudinarium,_ of Goldfuss; _Micraster cor anguinum_, of
Agassiz,) in the chalk of Kent, and some parts of Sussex.
Siliceous casts, forming cordiform flints, with deep
imprints of the pentapetalous rays on the vertex, are common
among the stones of the ploughed fields of the Downs.
Fig. 12. A _Spatangite_, (_Spatangus_ (_Micraster_, of Agassiz)
_lacunosus_, of Parkinson), from tertiary strata, Malta,
[Illustration: Plate LVI.]
PLATE LVI.
Echinites and Echinital Spines.
Fig. 1. A fragment of the shell of a Turban Echinite, with three
clavated or club-shaped spines attached, on chalk, from Kent
(_Cidaris claviger_, of König). The inner surface of the
fragment of shell is exposed.
Fig. 2. A crushed shell of an elegant species of Turban Echinite
(_Cidaris sceptrifera_, of Mantell), on a block of chalk;
with two displaced spines near it. The sceptre-like form of
the spines suggested the specific name. The chalk has been
carefully cut away so as to display the shell and spines as
much as possible without detaching them. From Sussex; common
in the chalk near Gravesend.
Fig. 3. Part of the shell, with two spines of another species
(_Cidaris vesiculosus_, of Goldfuss), from Kent.
Fig. 4. "A fossil echinital spine resembling a belemnite."--_Mr.
Parkinson._ I am unable to determine either the species or
locality of this fossil: it is indeed doubtful whether it is
a spine of an echinus.
Figs. 5 to 19, represent various kinds of echinital spines of
Turban Echinites or Cidarites.
Fig. 5. "A fossil spine named '_Bacolo di Santo Paulo_,' by
Scilla."--_Mr. Parkinson._ From Verona.
Figs. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, & 18, are, I believe,
referable to various species of Cidaris that occur in the
Oolite or Jurassic deposits.
Figs. 9 and 11. Species of _Cidaris glandiferus_, of Goldfuss.
Fig. 15, is a well known form, which occurs in thousands in
the Oolite Limestone, the Coral Rag, of Caen, and other
localities in Wiltshire; it belongs to a beautiful Cidarite
(_Cidaris Blumenbachii_[51]), which is occasionally found
with similar spines attached.
[Footnote 51: See Wonders of Geology, vol. ii. p. 500, figs. 3 and 6.]
Fig. 12. "A flat serrated spine from Verona."--_Mr. Parkinson._
It belongs to the _Cidaris Schmidelii_, of Goldfuss.
Fig. 7. The interior of the upper part or vertex of a large
Echinus, from the tertiary strata of Malta. The greater
portion of the shell is broken away, but a small fragment
showing the outer surface remains on the upper left
hand of the specimen. The five large petalous ambulacra
are beautifully seen. Perfect examples of this echinite
(_Echinanthus Clypeaster altus_, of Parkinson), are not
uncommon.
Fig. 19. A spine of _Cidaris sceptrifera_, from the chalk of Kent.
Fig. 20. An elegant Turban Echinite, (_Hemicidaris crenularis_,
of Lamarck,) common in the Coral Rag of Wiltshire. Groups of
this beautiful echinoderm, with numerous spines attached,
are found at Caen. I have seen on one slab of limestone,
upwards of twenty individuals with the spines radiating
round the shell, as if the animals were alive on a mud bank
in shallow water.
Fig. 21. A fragment of the shell with two spines (_Cidaris
claviger_), attached to a flint; from Kent.
[Illustration: Plate LVII.]
PLATE LVII.
Fossil Shells.
Figs. 1, & 3. Upper and under view of a discoidal spiral univalve
shell (_Euomphalus pentangulatus_, of Sowerby), from
the mountain limestone of Derbyshire. The extinct genus
Euomphalus, a name suggestive of the deeply excavated
disk, comprises many species which occur in the Silurian,
Devonian, and Carboniferous formations. The shell has
chambers, or rather obsolete cavities sealed up by a shelly
partition, in the abandoned part of the spire.[52]
[Footnote 52: Medals of Creation, pp. 425-427.]
Fig. 2. An elegant univalve shell, completely silicified or
transmuted into flint (_Natica canrena_, of Parkinson,
_Natica Gentii_, of Sowerby), from the upper greensand of
Blackdown.
Figs. 4, & 6. Two views of the same specimen; a univalve (_Nerita
conoidea_, of Lamarck), in which the apex or upper part is
destroyed, and the interior of the shell is filled with
yellowish brown chalcedony; in fig. 4, a cast of the spire
is seen, and in fig. 6, the mouth of the shell, with the
chalcedony partially filling up the interior. From tertiary
strata near Paris.
Fig. 5. A beautiful fossil univalve shell, from the "Red Crag" of
Suffolk, known to collectors as the "Essex reversed whelk,"
from the spire being coiled in the opposite direction to the
common mode; the mouth is consequently situated to the left
of the observer; the same species occurs with the spire in
the usual direction. This shell is the _Murex_ (_Fusus_)
_contrarius_, of Parkinson.
Figs. 7, & 8. Under and upper view of another species of
Euomphalus (_E. rugosus_, of Sowerby), from the Wenlock
limestone, Dudley.
Fig. 9. An enlarged view of fig. 10. "A shell of the genus
_Sigaretus_."--_Mr. Parkinson._ Mr. Morris thinks it is
merely an operculum of a small univalve.
Fig. 11. A chambered cephalopodous shell (_Lituites lituus_, of
Hisinger), from Silurian strata, Sweden.
Figs. 12, & 13. These curious contorted bodies are named
"_Vermiculitæ_" by Mr. Parkinson. They occur in the
cream-coloured limestone of Pappenheim and Solenhofen.
They are termed "_Lumbricaria colon_" by Goldfuss; and
"_Cololites_" by M. Agassiz; the last-named eminent
naturalist has demonstrated that they are the fossilized
intestines of fishes.[53]
[Footnote 53: See Dr. Buckland's Bridgewater Essay, vol. ii. plate
15.]
[Illustration: Plate LVIII.]
PLATE LVIII.
Fossil Shells.
Fig. 1. "Part of a hexahedral Serpulite."--_Mr. Parkinson._
Fig. 2. A silicified mass of delicate filiform serpulæ, from the
upper greensand of Devonshire (_Serpula filiformis_, of
Sowerby).
Fig. 3. Portion of a species of _Siliquaria_, from tertiary
strata, France. It is the shell of an Annelide related to
_Dentalium_.
Fig. 5. A spiral Serpulite (it resembles the _Serpula conica_);
probably from the cretaceous beds of the Isle of Rugen.
Fig. 6, is a piece of polished sandstone, from the upper
greensand of Wiltshire, "the markings on which are produced
by sections of a species of Serpula (_Vermetus concavus_, of
Sowerby)."--_Mr. Morris._
Fig. 7. A species of _Vermetus_; from Bayonne?
Figs. 8, & 9. A species of _Vermetus_ which abounds in the coarse
arenaceous limestone of Bognor Rocks, in Sussex (_Vermetus
Bognoriensis_, of Sowerby).
Fig. 10. "A section of the shell of a Nautilus, to show that the
siphuncle sometimes suffered distension."--_Mr. Parkinson._
Fig. 11. A species of Serpula (_Serpula ampullacea_, of Sowerby),
from the chalk of Kent.
Fig. 12. A fragment of the back or dorsal part of the shell of a
fossil Nautilus (_Nautilus centralis_, of Sowerby), from the
London clay, Brentford. The outer shell is broken away, and
the siphuncle, traversing five of the septa of the chambers,
is exposed.
Fig. 13. "The outline of the back of a Nautilus."--_Mr.
Parkinson._
Fig. 14. An Orthoceratite (_Orthoceras annulatum_, of Sowerby;
_O. undulatum_, of Kissinger), from the Wenlock Limestone,
Dudley.
Fig. 15. A fragment of a fossil Nautilus (_Nautilus Parkinsoni_,
of Mr. Edwards), from the London clay of Harwich. It shows
the situation of the siphuncle and the form of the septa, as
indicated by the sinuous transverse lines.
Fig. 16. A polished section of a Nautilus (_N. truncatus_, of
Sowerby), from the Inferior Oolite of Yeovil, Somersetshire.
The chambers are filled up with crystalline limestone, with
the exception of the six outermost cells, in which are left
hollows that are lined with calcareous spar.
Fig. 17. Polished section of an Orthoceratite, from the Silurian
strata of Oëland, Sweden.
Fig. 18. The discoidal part of a Lituite from the same locality
as fig. 17.
Fig. 19. A polished slab of grey marble, from the Devonian
formation of the Rhine. The figures are sections of
_Orthoceratites_, _a_; and _Lituites_, _b_.
[Illustration: Plate LIX.]
PLATE LIX.
Fossil Cephalopoda, &c.
Fig. 1. A fossil shell named Hippurite (_Hippurites bioculatus_,
of D'Orbigny), from the south of France. This shell belongs
to a family termed _Rudistes_, whose characters are somewhat
problematical,--some naturalists referring them to the
bivalves, and others to the univalves. The Hippurite is
generally of an elongated conical form, and has internally
two obtuse longitudinal ridges; the base is sometimes
partitioned by transverse septa.
Fig. 5, is a longitudinal section of a specimen in which septa
are displayed. The aperture is closed by a moveable
operculum, or upper valve, as in the specimen fig. 1. The
substance of the shell is cellular and very thick, and when
fractured, resembles that of the lamelliferous corals. Some
kinds attain a large size, and are called "petrified horns"
by the inhabitants of the districts in the Pyrenees where
they abound. Though Hippurites are abundant in the chalk of
the south of France, and in Spain and Portugal, none have
been found in England. The _Spherulite_, a nearly allied
genus, which has no internal longitudinal ridges, occurs in
the chalk of Sussex: it was first discovered near Lewes.
(_Spherulites Mortoni_, of Mantell.)[54]
[Footnote 54: Medals of Creation, p. 428.]
Fig. 2. The siphuncle of a very large Orthoceratite ("related to
the genus _Ormoceras_," Mr. Morris), from the Rhine.
Figs. 3 & 4, "show the direction in which the siphuncle in
Orthoceratites intersects the septa."
Fig. 6. Siphuncle of an orthoceratite (related to _Orthoceras
duplex_, of Kissinger), from the Silurian strata, Sweden.
Fig. 7. An Orthoceratite (_O. pyriforme_, of Sowerby), from the
Silurian strata, Dudley.
Figs. 8-15. Various kinds of Belemnites.
In the "_Supplementary Notes_" I have, under the head,
"_Belemnites_," explained somewhat fully the nature of those fossils
which, by the name of "thunderbolts," have for so many centuries
excited the interest and perplexed the ingenuity of collectors of
fossil remains. Referring the reader to that note, I shall therefore
in this place merely give such specific names of the specimens
figured by Mr. Parkinson as I have been able to determine.
Fig. 8. "A Belemnite of large size," Mr. Parkinson. This specimen
is part of the phragmocone from near the lower apical
portion, partially invested with the fibrous rostrum or
guard. It is the species named _Belemnites giganteus_ by M.
D'Orbigny; from the Oxford clay of Wiltshire.
Fig. 9. The guard of a Belemnite, eroded by some Annelide.
Fig. 10, is a vertical section of a fragment of a Belemnite,
showing the alveolus or cavity for the reception of the apex
of the phragmocone in the upper part.
Fig. 11. The distal or apical part of the rostrum or guard of a
Belemnite. The annexed outline of a transverse section
exhibits the radiated structure.
Fig. 12. The distal part of the guard of a chalk Belemnite
(_Belemnitella mucronata_); from Norwich. Siliceous casts
of the phragmocone of _Belemnitella_ are occasionally met
with in the flints of the South Downs. This phragmocone has
a longitudinal flat band or ridge, extending down the dorsal
aspect: the chambers are very numerous; the slit or fissure
in the ventral aspect of the guard, is occupied by a thin
expansion of the phragmocone.
Fig. 13. A Belemnite from the great oolite of Stonesfield
(_Belemnites fusiformis_, of Parkinson). The upper part
shows the alveolus for the reception of the apex of the
phragmocone.
Fig. 14. A fragment of a guard split vertically, the flat surface
showing a section of the alveolus filled with spar. This
specimen belongs to the _Belemnites cylindriformis_, of
Parkinson.
Fig. 15. A Belemnite (_Belemnites coniformis_, of Parkinson),
having part of the guard broken off, to show the alveolus
or hollow in which the apical part of the phragmocone is
received. The removed portion has the cast of the alveolus
attached to it.
Fig. 16, of which fig. 17, is an enlarged view, is a species of
chambered foraminiferous shell, called _Nodosaria_ (_N.
raphanistrum_, of Lamarck); from Sienna. See description of
Plate LXII.
[Illustration: Plate LX.]
PLATE LX.
Ammonites.
Fig. 1. A Belemnite (_Belemnitella mucronata_) attached to a
flint. Kent.
Fig. 2. Cast of part of a straight-chambered shell (_Baculites
Fraujasii_, of Lamarck), in which the septa, or partitions,
are deeply and regularly sinuated. In fossils of this kind,
the cast of each chamber is distinct from the others; but
the series is held together by the flexuosities of the
septa. From Maestricht.
Fig. 3. A limestone cast of the chamber of an Ammonite: from
Bath. The elongated channel in the middle indicates the
position of the siphuncle.
Fig. 4. Fragment of an Ammonite, showing cavities of two
chambers, and the canal of the siphuncle, partly lined with
calcareous spar.
Fig. 5. Polished sections of an Ammonite (_Ammonites Walcotii_)
from the Lias, Whitby. The chambers are filled with
semi-transparent spar. The siphunculus is seen running along
the dorsal, or outer margins of the volutions. The dark
appearances observable in several parts of the siphuncle
result from the carbonization of the animal membrane with
which the tube was lined in the living state.
Fig. 6. "An _Oval Ammonite_."--_Mr. Parkinson._ This is evidently
the cast of a discoidal shell pressed into an elliptical
form. In the Chalk-marl, casts of Ammonites, Nautilites, &c.
are very commonly more or less distorted by compression. The
marl appears to have remained in a plastic state after the
decomposition of the shell in which it was moulded, and to
have admitted of being squeezed into close contact with the
surrounding matrix; when the stratum became consolidated
the cast retained its accidental shape, and adhering but
slightly to the investing marl, was separable by a properly
directed blow. This explains the otherwise unintelligible
fact of a cast being closely invested by the rock, and all
traces of the shell in which it was formed absent. When both
the cast and the matrix became solid and uncompressible
before the shell was decomposed, then loose casts were
formed; as is common in the Portland stone, &c. The fossil
figured appears to be an indifferent example of a common
chalk-marl species (_Ammonites Mantelli_, of Sowerby).
Fig. 7. A beautiful cast of an Ammonite, in which the foliaceous
septa transmuted into pyrites (sulphuret of iron, or
_marcasite_), are exquisitely shown.
Fig. 8. A very fine specimen of an Ammonite (_Ammonites latus_,
of Sowerby), from the "_Galt_;" a subdivision of the
Lower chalk, in which Ammonites, with their pearly shells
beautifully preserved, are abundant. From Folkstone, in
Kent; a celebrated locality for these and other fossils of
the same cretaceous deposits.
Fig. 9. Sections of a pyritous cast of an Ammonite, showing the
sinuous edges of the septa.
[Illustration: Plate LXI.]
PLATE LXI.
Fossil Cephalopoda, &c.
Fig. 1. Part of the cast of a species of Hamite (_Hamites
intermedius_, of Sowerby), from the Gait of Folkstone. The
name _Hamites_ was employed by Mr. Parkinson to designate
a genus of chambered shells, in which the direction of the
spire, instead of being straight, as in _Baculites_, or
discoidal, as in _Ammonites_, was bent like a hook beyond
the inner reflected part. All the specimens here figured are
but fragments.[55]
[Footnote 55: Medals of Creation, vol. ii. p. 500.]
Figs. 2, & 5. Portions of _Hamites intermedius_, of Sowerby.
Fig. 3. _Hamites plicatilis_, of Sowerby.
Fig. 4. A fragment of _Hamites rotundus_, of Sowerby.
Figs. 6, & 7. Two views of a species of an extinct genus, the
shells of which, though not chambered, are supposed to have
been inhabited by Cephalopoda, like the recent Argonaut. The
specimen (_Bellerophon costatus_, of Sowerby) is from the
Mountain limestone of Derbyshire.[56]
[Footnote 56: Ibid p. 477.]
Figs. 8, & 9. An Ammonite with a contracted aperture, and three
deep constrictions across the disk. From the Inferior oolite
of Normandy.
Figs. 10, & 11. Two specimens of "_Scaphites_, or Boat-like
Ammonite," of Mr. Parkinson. A remarkable cretaceous genus
of extinct cephalopoda. The specimens figured are from the
Lower chalk of Sussex (_Scaphites costatus_, of Mantell; _S.
equalis_, of Sowerby).
Fig. 12. Cast of a spiral chambered shell, called _Turrilite_, of
which many species occur in the lower cretaceous strata
(_Turrilites costatus_, of Langius). The quarries of lower
chalk at St. Catharine's Mount, near Rouen, in Normandy,
have long been celebrated for the number and perfection of
specimens of this elegant type of cephalopodous shells.
The first known English examples of this genus, as well as
of Scaphites, were discovered by me in the chalk marl, at
Hamsey, near Lewes, in Sussex, in 1810. Several very fine
specimens of a large species (_Turrilites tuberculatus_),
some of which are more than two feet in length, have
been obtained from the same strata. The tubercles on the
casts of this species are the bases of strong spines. The
siphunculus, in the state of a pyritous cast, is preserved
in some examples.
Figs. 13 to 27. These figures all refer to a very curious group of
fossils, termed _Nummulites_, from the supposed resemblance
of some of the flat disks to a piece of money. The
complexity of their internal structure, and the supposed
resemblance of their organization to that of the true
Cephalopoda, led to many erroneous opinions as to the
nature of the originals. That eminent physiologist, Dr.
W. B. Carpenter, has recently investigated the intimate
structure of the whole group, and the results are given in
a beautiful and masterly memoir in the Quarterly Journal
of the Geological Society of London.[57] Dr. Carpenter
has clearly shown that these fossils belong to the
_Foraminifera_, and not, as some eminent naturalists have
supposed, to the _Bryozoa_, or "_Moss-corals_." As the
family to which they belong comprises a numerous assemblage
of minute organic remains, many of which are delineated in
the next plate (Plate LXII.), the reader is referred to
the "_Supplementary Notes_," for a general description of
the _Foraminifera_, in which is given a restored figure
of the supposed living animal of the Nummulite, from Dr.
Carpenter's memoir.
[Footnote 57: No. 21, for February 1850. "On the Microscopic
Structure of Nummulina, Orbitolites and Orbitoides."]
Fig. 13. The usual appearance of the common species of Nummulite
(_Nummulina lævigata_). From Egypt.
Fig. 14. A specimen rubbed down, and exposing the internal
cellular structure.
Fig. 15. An example in which the outer investment is partly
removed.
Fig. 16. A vertical section of the same.
Fig. 17. This fossil, of which fig. 18, is a vertical section
(_Nummulites obtusa_, of Sowerby), appears to belong to a
different genus; probably _Orbitolites_, or _Marginopora_.
Tertiary strata.
Fig. 19. A vertical section of a Nummulite, showing a cavity in
the centre, probably from decomposition.
Fig. 20. A section of another species of Nummulite (_N. dispansa
?_ of Sowerby);[58] Tertiary strata, India.
[Footnote 58: See Sowerby's Mineral Conchology, vol. i.; and
Mantell's Fossils of the South Downs.]
Figs. 21 to 26, are various sections of a fossil Nummulite, of
which fig. 37, represents the flat surface (_Nummulites
complanata_, of Parkinson. This fossil belongs to the genus
_Discospira_ of Mr. Morris).[59]
[Footnote 59: "_Discospira_, Nov. Gen. Disciform, volutions distrial,
not embracing the previous ones, cells numerous." _Mr. Morris_, 1850.]
Fig. 28. A species of Foraminifera (_Fasciolites_, of Parkinson;
_Alveolina elliptica_, of D'Orbigny).
Fig. 29. A transverse section.
Figs. 30, & 31. Enlarged views of the same fossil. Fig. 31. A
longitudinal section.
[Illustration: Plate LXII.]
PLATE LXII.
Fossil Foraminifera.
With the exception of figs. 23, 24, 29, 31 and 32, all the specimens
delineated in this Plate belong to the Foraminifera. The figures
represent magnified views; the natural size is indicated in some
instances by a minute outline. Under the article "Foraminifera,"
in the "_Supplementary Notes_," a general account is given of the
structure and economy of the living animalcules. A list of names is
subjoined.
Figs. 1, & 2. _Rotalia trochiliformis_, of Lamarck. Tertiary.
Fig. 3. _Rotalia Beccarii_, of Linnæus. Tertiary.
Fig. 4. _Cristellaria rotulata_, Lamarck. Chalk.
Figs. 5, 6, 7. _Lituola nautiloidea_, Lamarck. Chalk.
Fig. 8. _Spirolina depressa_, Lamarck. This and the specimens to
fig. 21 inclusive, are tertiary fossils.
Fig. 9. _Spirolina cylindracea_, Lamarck.
Fig. 10. _Orthocerina clavulus._
Fig. 11. _Biloculina ringens_, Lamarck.
Figs. 12, & 13. _Quinqueloculina cor anguinum_, Lamarck.
Figs. 14, 15, & 16. _Quinqueloculina._
Figs. 17, 18, 19. _Triloculina trigonula_, Lamarck.
Fig. 20. _Quinqueloculina opposita_, Lamarck.
Fig. 21. _Peneroloplis opercularis_.
Fig. 22. _Adelosina_, of D'Orbigny; a recent species.
Figs. 23, & 24. _Gyrogonites_. The fossils here figured on a
magnified scale as microscopic shells of the same family as
those above described, received the name of Gyrogonites,
or twisted stones. They prove to be the seed-vessels of a
species of the common fresh-water plant, the _Chara_. The
fruit of this genus consists of minute nuclei, with an
external calcareous covering, composed of five spirally
twisted plates, which unite at the summit. These fossils
occur by myriads in many of the fresh-water secondary and
tertiary limestones, as well as in the calcareous deposits
now in progress of formation in our lakes. In the lacustrine
limestones of the Isle of Wight (at Binstead, White Cliff,
&c.), beautiful specimens may be obtained.[60] Professor E.
Forbes has discovered Gyrogonites in the Wealden strata of
the Isle of Purbeck, associated with shells of the genera
_Planorbis_, _Physa_, _Paluolina_, &c.
[Footnote 60: See Geological Excursions round the Isle of Wight. 2d
Edit. 1850, p. 108.]
Fig. 25. _Polystomella crispa_, of Linnæus. From the tertiary
strata of the Apennines.
Fig. 26. _Cristellaria ?_
Figs. 27, & 28. _Rotalia Beccarii_. Apennines.
Fig. 30. _Cristellaria galea_, of Lamarck. Apennines.
Fig. 29. Cast of a species of Area; a bivalve shell, from
tertiary strata, Bordeaux.
Fig. 31. A curious pteropodous shell (_Vaginella depressa_), from
tertiary strata, Basterot.
Fig. 32. This appears to be an imperfect specimen of a bivalve
having a fibrous structure, like _Pinna_. It is probably a
fragment of an Inoceramus.
[Illustration: Plate LXIII.]
PLATE LXIII.
Trigoniæ.