Of CORALLS.

Corallium fossile exalbidum; the first of the English Coralls, Lh. 92. from Witney in Oxfordshire, from the Benefactor last mentioned. A Branch like that from Shipston Sollers in Gloc. Lh. 94. A larger Sort sent me from Ireland. A porous Species of Coral, like Imperatus's Madrepora, Lh. 104. The second Sort of a Coral mentioned in Dr. Sloan's Nat. Hist. of Jamaica, white, smooth, with many crooked Branches not above an Inch high (b)(b) Jam. p. 51.. The next Sort Corallium album porosum maximum; this is of the tapering Part towards the Top, thicker than the little Finger, about five Inches long, hath but one Joint, the muricated Prickles are convex below, but Hollow above, fit to receive Nourishment from the Water, but whether from the East or West-Indies I know not. A lesser Sort of white porous Coral, that hath half a Score Branches in less than five Inches. The Doctor's 4th, Corallina Opuntiades, one Leaf growing out of another, tyed together by a Sort of stony Thread. Pounced white Coral from the Coast of Norway; it is above four Inches in Circumference, full of small Holes upon the Surface: It was broke from the Rock that my Friend's Ship struck against. Don. D. S. Madox. Two Branches, but conjoined in Places, of curious starred white Coral, with many lesser Branches intermixed. Don. Rev. D. Baxter V D M. The Root of Red Coral, growing upon a Rock, but the Branches broken off, that there remains not above an Inch in Height of each Branch, which is smooth, solid and red, as are also the spreading Branches of the Root. Another very ponderous and rugged, having the Foot Stems of above 20 Branches, some of which are four Inches round.

Lapis Astroitidis, commonly called the Brainstones; they are frequently found in the Seas about Jamaica, as big as a Man's Head; this is half a Yard in Circumference one Way, and two Foot the other: It is curiously undulated; the Ridges in this are very high, and the transverse Striæ very fine, the winding of the Waves imitate the Gyri or Aufractus of a Man's Brain, whence the Name. A small one very fine, given by Dr. Lister to my Father, not unlike Point-work wrought by the Needle. A larger sent me by Mr. Char. Towneley of T. with the Top rising high and round; the Furrows in this are small. Another I bought at London, which is very curious, and being two Inches thick on one Side; the thin Plates, which compose the small Cells, and the Formation of the Stone is better discerned. A white Corall sent me from Ireland, with flat Lamina; it resembles the Astropodium ramulosum of Lh. Tab. 14. 1132. c. A Mushroom Corall somewhat compress'd, striated above, the inner Part below; it is of a like fine Texture, with the small Striæ of the Brain-stone. A fungus Lapideus in Form of an Hemisphere, a larger Starry Fungites, both sent me, with other valuable Fossils, from Roger Gale Esq; Astroites or starred Stone, a thin one with less perfect Stars, shewing their Original when beginning to grow or sprout up at the Bottom of the Sea (c)(c) Dr. Sloane's Nat. Hist. of Jam. Tab. XXI. Fig. I.. A large porous Convex Astroites, a Foot in Circumference, wholly composed of radiated Stars, like Fig. 4. in the same Table. Some of these Sorts of Coralls are frequently found in Europe, and particularly in England. I have one Sort from North Leach in Gloc. with very fair Stars, though it seems by the Lightness to be petrified Wood. A solid Corall, with concave Stars, very fair. Another, like Mr. Lhwyd's Astroites pyxidatus seu faviginosus from Oxfordshire. A slender Branch of white Corall from Ireland. A Mycetites surrounded with Astroites. (d) Grew's Mus. Reg. Soc. p. 305.Lapis Cribriformis or Sieve-stone (d), a perforated brown Stone. (e) Nat. Hist. Oxon. p. 139. A Porpites Plotii (e), & Lhuidii (f) from the Bishop of Carlisle. (f) Lith. Brit. N° 142. Another Button-stone more compress'd, but very fair; from Mr. Gale, Specimen minus & elegantius, Tab. 3. 151.

Lithophyta, five of them having the Impression of Plants, from Mendip Cole-Pits Com. Somers. As many from those at North Byerley Com. Ebor. The Gifts of my honoured Friends Dr. Woodward and Dr. Richardson, some of which are upon Coal-Slate, others upon a harder Stone; of these are the Filix florida, sive Osmunda regalis, Filix Mas dicta, Filix Fæmina. Here is also Lh. ignota Planta Mineralis, Neurophyllon carbonarium dicta, N° 184. but from whence I remember not. But the most distinct are those in a hard Iron-stone from the Newcastle Coal-Pits, called by the Miners Cat-heads, which contain a Fern Leaf, or Polypody very fair; they are found in a particular Stratum, and being struck with a Hammer very readily part in two, and discover the Plant, which is very prominent on one Side, and concave on the other: Of these I have from two Inches to five in Length, the longer hath fifteen Leaves on each Side the middle Rib; one of them is broader and contains four Plants, resembling Lh. Trichomanes Minerale 191. Don. D. Jab. Cay M.D. But the most durable of any of these impressions is one found at Rochdale in Lanc. upon a very hard Iron Stone, whereupon are three of the said Plants very fair. Don. Gul. Clayton. Arm.

The Florentine Marble naturally adorned with the Representation of Trees, which appear very fair, not only upon the polished Superficies, but (being casually broken) quite through the Body of it. Don. Jab. Cay M.D. Delineations of Shrubs upon Stones from Sherburn Com. Gloc. Don. Jo. Woodward M D. And of Trees very curious in dark Colours, upon a white Stone, from Don. H. Sloane M D.

Of the Nautelites, by the Ancients called Cornua Ammonis (for its resemblance of the curled Horns of the Ram, worshipped by the Name of Jupiter Ammon in the Deserts of Africa:) Here are various Sorts, of different Colours, Figures and Sizes, from less than half an Inch to half a Foot in Diameter; but all so curled up that the Tail of the Snake is in the Center of the Stone. The small Sort, whose Parts are protuberant and swelling to a Round; of these are both the Ash-coloured, and the brown (from my Lord Bp of Carl.) the Striæ of each Colour are single near the Center, but presently divide into two Lines, but terminate in a single Lineation. Of the same Form are a greater Sort that are six Inches in Circumference, and very fair. These of the Ash-coloured Stone, appear in Places to be adorned with a shining brazen Armature, as is more evident by an Arch, or Part of another of the same Kind. A Segment of a large one with single Striæ of an Iron-stone; it is 4 ½ Inches round. One that is more thinly striated, but the Lineations are larger and more prominent, like N° 10 in Dr. Plot's 5 Tab. Nat. Hist. Oxon. On the other Side is no Figure, being of Dr. Lister's 9th Sort (g)(g) De Lapid. turbin. p. 212, ex altera tantum parte ad umbilicum cavus. Of those that are depressed; here is one of five Wreaths, three Inches broad; and another near half a Yard in Circumference, which was the largest I could conveniently bring from Whitby; both these which are an Ash or blewish Stone are of the Cornua Ammonis pertusa, being perforated at the Center; they have also a Crest or sharp Ridge, like the Spina Dorsalis; on each Side of which is a Furrow or Channel. A Fragment of a small one with as many Wreaths. The Segment of a larger, being half a Foot round; my kind Benefactor, Dr. Woodward, received it from Whitton Com. Linc. as he did three Samples of the lesser Sort from Lansdown, near Bath. My Lord Bishop of Carlisle sent me, amongst others, the smallest I have seen, being but a Quarter of an Inch broad, yet fairly striated. A larger with six Wreaths. Mr. Sutherland of Edinburgh sent me a small compress'd one, found about ten Miles from the City. But here is another Species, considerably different from all the former, the middle Part being sunk in, or depress'd to a great Depth; the outmost Wreath is above two Inches broad, the Center on each Side is dip'd in, an Inch deep; it is near eight Inches in Circumfe ferencerence. A small one of the same Sort, but one Inch broad, and of a shining Colour. Here are also the Matrix or Beds they are lodged in, somewhat globular, and without any Impression on the convex Part, but finely striated within, after the Form of the Stone it self. The most remarkable of which was given me by Dr. Sawry of Yorke, who received it from Whitby; it is a Congeries of them in an oval Brass Lump (as commonly called) a Quarter of a Yard round, containing the gilded impressions of seven of them.

May 11th 1698 Non nobis nascimur[*] Latin Phrase: "We are not born for ourselves alone." Ric:Richard Richardson (of North Byerley MD &FRS)*