Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 2.djvu/287



examination of the excellent series of Hippurites, from Cape Passaro, in Sicily, presented to the Society by the Hon. H. G. Bennet, has occasioned the present endeavour to add to the knowledge of the nature and œconomy of the animal, whose remains are thus beautifully preserved. The specimens are indeed such as demand, that they should obtain the particular attention of the Society, since they possess those characters which will probably serve to correct some erroneous opinions respecting the nature and habits of the animals of which these shells were the dwellings.

These fossils exactly agree with the description of M. Lamarck, being straight or bowed conical shells, furnished internally with transverse septa, and with two longitudinal, lateral, obtuse and converging ridges. These characters are distinctly observable in one of the specimens which contains, with several other remains of these fossils, a nearly perfect shell, longitudinally divided, so as to display very beautifully the two ridges, with the numerous septa and chambers. In another, a longitudinal section of one of these fossil shells, the same parts are shewn, and the extreme thinness of the septa, and the closeness with which they are placed to each other, are particularly observable.