terminating in a root or peduncle abruptly truncated, thick and solid on one side of the central tube, but usually open on the other, to allow the passage of water to the interior (see Pl. 24, No. 2.) This peduncle bears marks of separation by violence from the point of attachment on which it grew, and which seems not to have been the chalk in which it is now imbedded: the lower portion of the peduncle from which it was torn off has, I believe, been never yet discovered.
The position of the Paramoudræ in their matrix is irregular; (see Pl. 24. No. 1.) sometimes they lie horizontally, at other times are inclined or erect; they are generally insulated, and altogether unconnected with the thin stratra of siliceous nodules which occur in the same chalk pit with them. They often lie across these strata without producing any effect on them, or being themselves affected by them. Sometimes the extremities of two specimens are found in contact; but this seems to be the result of accidental juxta-position, not of any original connexion of the animal bodies.[1]
The animal history of these fossils is involved in much obscurity, as they display no traces of internal organization sufficient to develope the habits and character of the original bodies, whose external features are so distinctly preserved. The central aperture or pipe was calculated to allow water to have access to the interior of the animal, as is the case in many hollow spunges, that have large single tubes passing into their center, and usually closed at
- ↑ I mention this because an idea used to prevail at Belfast that they are occasionally found linked together in a kind of chain. For my acquaintance with this fact and many others relating to the history of the Paramoudra, I beg to acknowledge my obligations to my kind friend Dr. M'Donnel of Belfast, to whose ardent love of science, and extensive knowledge of the natural history of the north of Ireland, I am indebted for much valuable information on the Geology of that district.
