a

* 7

12 A BOOK FOR THE SEA-SIDE.

of its shells; and at low water on some parts of
the Sussex coast, where the chalk forms the basis,
enormous specimens are often seen embedded. ‘The

 

SECTION O# AN AMMONITE.

ammonite (Cornu Ammonis,) was 80 named from its
fancied resemblance to the horn of Jupiter Ammon,
and it varies in size from a most minute shell to one of
twelve, or even fourteen fect in circumference. ‘This
coiled shell is well known in geological collections by
the name of snake-stone. Old superstitions relate
that—

“Of a thousand snakes each one
Was turn’d into a coil of stone
When holy Hilda pray’d.”

And some similar traditions yet linger in the north of
England, where these shells abound. The species of
the nautilus found in chalk will be easily distinguished
from other shells, because although the exact forms are
extinct, yet the nautilus still spreads its gauzy sail to
the zephyrs of tropical seas, and its clear and beauti-
fully formed shell is so commonly used as an ornament
that we are all familiar with it. The nautilus and its
congeners are among the earliest traces of the animal
kingdom, and must once have been very numerous.
Mrs. Howitt’s lines to this fossil shell are very appro-
priate :—

“Thou didst laugh at sun and breeze,
In the new-created seas;
Thou wast with the reptile broods
In the old sea solitudes ;