PLATE XLIV. Fossil Zoophytes. Fig. 1. A spongite (_Scyphia costata_, of Goldfuss), from Switzerland. The fossil spongeous bodies named _Scyphia_, are characterized by the "mass or body being either cylindrical, simple or branched; fistulous, and terminating in a rounded pit; entirely composed of a firm reticulated tissue."[35] Like the other bodies comprised in the group of Amorphozoa, the form in this genus is exceedingly diversified, and as the structure is often but obscurely shown, the determination of these fossils is oftentimes impossible. It is however convenient, in the present state of our knowledge, to distinguish the principal kinds by names which may be modified or abandoned, when the structure and natural affinities of the original organisms are more accurately determined. [Footnote 35: Medals of Creation, p. 237.] Fig. 2. Another species of Scyphia from Switzerland; a small portion of the surface magnified is seen at _a_. Fig. 3. The peculiar form and tissue of another genus of Amorphozoa (_Cnemidium rimulosum_, of Goldfuss), are shown in this beautiful specimen. Fig. 4, is a section of a chalk flint, from Wycombe Heath; the purple body, partially invested by a white border, is evidently a mass of the soft parts of some zoophyte, which served as a nucleus to the siliceous nodule. A purple or pink hue often prevails in the sections of zoophytes immersed in flint, and doubtless depends on the original colour of the living animal. Fig. 5. A very fine spongite (_Chenendopora fungiformis_, of Michelin), from France. Fig. 6. This is evidently a fossil zoophyte, but the structure exposed is not sufficiently characteristic to determine the genus. Fig. 7. A beautiful fungiform Scyphia. Fig. 8. This elegant specimen, which Mr. Parkinson highly valued, is evidently a _Choanite_ imbedded in flint. The body retains a pink colour, and is surrounded by a white band, which is probably the remains of the cortical or external tissue of the original zoophyte. I have seen many transverse sections in which the central mass was either of a pink or purple colour, and encircled by a white zone, in the squared flints of the walls of churches and other ancient edifices in Sussex.[36]