But we are now standing before the central counter, and our attention is drawn to the curious and beautiful fossils which lie upon it. We take up one to which the late Dr. Mantell kindly gave the name of a “choanite.” In doing this, he not only adopted a foundling, but conferred endless benefit upon the lapidaries. Nothing will sell in this country without _a name_: the appellation chosen by the Doctor was judged suitable, and a large and increasing sale of the fossil has followed upon it. This one is of a portly size; and the lapidary, after slicing it in two, has polished one of the flat surfaces. The internal structure revealed by this section is not unlike the corolla of a daisy, and at once reminds us of the living zoophyte called “actinia bellis.” _Choanite_ means “funnel-body:” and the creature which lies here petrified must, when alive, have been globular or pyriform, with many tubular arms branching out from one central trunk. The petrifaction has been faithful to its prototype: the several tubes being now charged with limestone, and the space between them, once a gelatinous substance, still retaining that appearance in a medium of semi-pellucid chalcedony. [Illustration: ALCYONIUM DIGITATUM.] By the side of the choanite is another fossil, which we now call an “alcyonite:” the learned name of the nearest living species being “alcyonium digitatum.” It is known in the Isle of Wight as “deadman’s fingers.” Despite the above unpleasing nickname, this is a most beautiful fossil. Its outer form resembles that of a branching ice-plant: while a polished section of one of the stems shows filaments all lying in the direction of the axis, and exhibiting in their cut ends an effect not unlike that of the granulations in a slice from a fresh cucumber. When the pith, as sometimes happens, is particoloured, I do not know a more desirable stone for the cabinet. Fine specimens of this are now very scarce. Another of these alcyonites has been polished all round, instead of dividing it: and the pebble being translucent, one can almost count the fibres or tubes disposed lengthwise. Then we have a zoophyte, not _injected_ as are the choanites, but preserved bodily, in delicate gray flint. It is an undoubted “actinia:” in every respect the same with those pulpy individuals who are displaying their jelly-like bodies and floral hues in many a household aquarium. This creature once floated up and down in shallow marine pools, or clung to banks of ribbon-weed fringing the coast-skerries. At present, himself of stone, he is firmly wedged in a hollow within a large pebble, and reminds us of the words of a pretty song:— “I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls.” Several silicified sponges may next be examined. These are not exactly beautiful, but they are curiously intricate; the once elastic tubes having stiffened into “silex” of a light brown colour, and a horizontal section displaying their fine reticulations.