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OSTRACITES

Volume 15 · 75 words · 1815 Edition

in Natural History, a name used for the fossil oysters, common in many parts of England. They are of various shapes and kinds; and the name is by some authors made to signify the shell itself, when preserved in its native state and condition; as is the case with those about Woolwich and Blackheath; and by others, the stones cast or formed in those shells, or in cavities from whence they have been walled away.