overheard at the manor

WT: (poking his head in the back door) Hey, Honey, I brought you

a present.

.

Willow: You did? What?

.

WT: Look at this great fossil I found down at the river!

.

Willow: Wow...I think this is the biggest one you've found, yet.

.

WT: What do you think it is?

.

Willow: Giant slug. No, not you, silly...the fossil!

Maybe my bloggies will know what it is...

This just in:

Kate Blackwell just sent me a website that includes Rugose

corals, an extinct order of coral, as well as fossilized horns, as a

possibility. I'm adding this marvelous drawing by Ernst Haeckel

of Rugosa, 1904. Thanks, Kate!

Ernst Haekel

Sea anemones from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur
(Artforms of Nature) 1904.

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), was an eminent German biologist,
zoologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and
accomplished artist and illustrator who discovered, described and
named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating
all life forms, and coined many terms in biology. The published
artwork of Haeckel includes over 100 detailed, multi-colour
illustrations of animals and sea creatures, which, in my opinion, are
absolutely magical. I want to frame a few of his prints for the manor.

Haeckel (left) with Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai, his assistant, in the Canaries, 1866.