Belemnites were first so named in Germany, in the celebrated work-of Georgius Agricola, of date 154(>, and described by him among the ‘ Eigured Stones’ which then began to attract attention in Europe. In DU 7 they were noticed in England by Dr. Plot (‘ Natural History of Oxfordshire’), and in 167b, by an equally famous pioneer of natural history, Dr. Lister.1 2 Prom this time the well-known controversy regarding their nature— whether they were mere stones, crystals, horns, or shells—was stoutlv maintained bv Grew,3 4 1681, Woodward,3 1695, Lhwycl/ 1699, and others in England, and by many foreign naturalists, until the general progress of zoology and geology left no room for doubt as to their affinity with the shelly supports of other better-known Cephalopoda. <...>