Thomas Webster

“ Fig. 15, Pl. 29, represents a fossil organized body, which I found to occur frequently in the stratum of blue marl immediately under the sandstone, or rather in the part where both these strata pass into each other.
This appears as blackish streaks in the ash-coloured marl, much resembling in form some plant. They frequently project above the surface, being a little more compact than the marl, though they are also calcareous; they lie in all possible directions, exhibiting sections sometimes at right angles to their axis, sometimes oblique, and sometimes longitudinal. ”

“ In the fossils of this genus yet noticed, the pedicle sor stalks have been very short; and although numerous fragments of these have been found, it was not certain that they belonged to the heads, the portions of stalk attached generally not exceeding an inch or two; whereas in those which are the subject of the present paper, we see stems of considerable length, frequently extending four or five feet. All the fossil alcyonic heads which have been described as approaching to a globular form, are characterised by a considerable opening in the end ”

“ The colour of the outside was sometimes of the same yellowish tint as the other parts of the rock, but was more frequently dark grey, owing to their greater durability permitting the lichens to grow upon them. When the dark coloured pieces were broken, the internal part was yellow. ”

“ When these forms are enclosed in a very soft sandstone, although the sections are very evident from their colour, yet they are seldom seen in relief, because the cylinders themselves are soon destroyed by the abrasion of the surface; whereas the hardness of the limestone permits them to remain.
Besides the prodigious quantity of fine specimens of these fossils to be found at the Western lines, Pl. 30, there is another circumstance peculiar to the place, arising from the position of the rocks forming the cliffs. ”