The Medals of Creation, Volumes 1 and 2: First Lessons in Geology and the Study of Organic RemainsMantell, Gideon Algernon
Science
The Medals of Creation, Volumes 1 and 2: First Lessons in Geology and the Study of Organic Remains
Mantell, Gideon Algernon
Geology -- England -- Guidebooks; Paleontology
In a recent state these bodies were probably covered with a soft, or
albuminous mass, studded with polype-cells, disposed in rows along
the margins of the lateral, curved, grapple-like processes, as in the
zoophytes termed _Virgularia_,[234] to which one kind bears a great
analogy. If two specimens of the _Graptolites Ludensis_ be placed
together, so that the elongated smooth edges be in apposition, the
united stems will be seen to offer a general resemblance to the axis of
_Virgularia mirabilis_.
[234] See British Zoophytes, pl. xxiv.
M. Barrande divides the Graptolites into three groups or genera, which
are defined as follow:--
_Graptolites_ (proper), a single series of cells united together at the
base, and adhering along the sides nearly to the orifice of each cell,
as in _fig. 1a_. _Monoprion_ of M. Barrande.
_Rastrites._--The axis reduced to a mere line, on which the cells are
placed at relatively wide intervals, and but slightly inclined. These
two genera are supposed to have been hydroid zoophytes, and related to
the Sertularidæ.
_Diprion_ (_Diplograpsus_ of Mr. McCoy), cells in two series arranged
along a central axis; these forms present a foliaceous appearance; they
are presumed to resemble the existing genera Pennatula and Virgularia.
Graptolites have been found in strata of the same age in Norway,
Sweden, and Scotland.[235] I have received slates literally covered with
them, from the Silurian rocks of the United States, by the kindness of
my friend, Benjamin Silliman, jun. Esq.
[235] Many species of Graptolites from the Lower Silurian rocks of the
South of Scotland, are described and figured by Mr. Harkness in Geol.
Journal for 1850, vol. vii. p. 58, pl. 1.
Sir R. Murchison remarks, that the nature of the strata in which these
remains occur in Radnorshire, indicates a condition of the sea, well
suited to the habits of the family of Pennatulidæ, or Sea-pens; for
the recent species live in mud and slimy sediment, and the fossils are
imbedded in a finely levigated _mud-stone_, which, from its structure,
must have been tranquilly deposited.
* * * * *
I will next describe the single lamellated Anthozoa, and afterwards
notice those corals which consist of an aggregation of radiated cells,
either frondescent, or disposed in solid masses.
[Sidenote: FUNGIA. ANTHOPHYLLUM.]
Fungia (_Wond._ p. 623).--The corals thus named, from their supposed
resemblance to fungi, are of a depressed form, and have the under
surface scabrous; they are divided above by numerous lamellæ, or
plates, which radiate from a central, oblong depression.
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