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
Calceola. a genus of Brachiopoda; the shell of an inverted pyramidal
form, the upper valve nearly flat; found in the Devonian strata of the
Eifel, and in Devonshire.
Crania, _Ly._ _fig._ 205. These are small brachiopodous shells,
attached to other bodies; very frequently to the Echinites of the
chalk. The free valve is commonly wanting, but I have found specimens
dispersed in the rock. In many of the quarries in Kent and Sussex, the
helmet Echinites bear groups of these shells. _Ly. _fig._ 13._
Orbicula. This genus resembles Crania in form, the upper valve being
like a limpet, whilst the attached valve is flat; it differs, however,
from Crania in being horny and flexible, and is fixed to rocks on the
bed of the sea, by a muscular pedicle passing out through a small
fissure.
Species of Orbicula are found in strata of all ages, from the Lower
Silurian to the Tertiary, and several are now living in tropical seas.
Obolus. _Eichwald._ In the Lower Silurian (_Obolite grit_) of Sweden
and Russia, is a Lingula, with a hinge and a notch for the pedicle; it
has not hitherto been found in Britain.
[Sidenote: LINGULA. HIPPURITES.]
Lingula. _Ly._ p. 353, _fig._ 412.--The Brachiopoda referred to this
genus have a long peduncle, and their respiratory apparatus has no
calcareous support; the recent species burrow in the sand, being
usually inhabitants of shallow waters. The _Lingulæ_ aære readily
distinguished from the Terebratulæ by their imperforate, equivalved
shells. One species is found in the Aymestry limestone, and several
have been collected from the Mountain limestone, Oolite, and Shanklin
sand.
* * * * *
With reference to the species of Brachiopoda, particularly of the
Terebratulæ, which inhabit the depths of the ocean, Professor Owen
observes, that "both the respiration and nutrition of animals, which
exist beneath a pressure of from sixty to ninety fathoms of sea-water,
are subjects suggestive of interesting reflections, and lead us to
contemplate with less surprise the great strength and complexity of
some of the minutest parts of the frame of these diminutive creatures.
In the unbroken stillness which pervades those abysses, the existence
of these animals must depend on their power of exciting a perpetual
current around them, in order to dissipate the water laden with their
effete particles, and to bring within the reach of their prehensile
organs the animalcules adapted for their sustenance."
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