CERAUNIA.	81
	that fall from heaven amidst thunderstorms and rain, such as the Ombria, called by some the Notia (Rain, or Scirocco-stone), and tho Brontia (thunder-stone), all supposed to possess the same virtues. It was also pretended that if the latter were laid upon an altar, the offerings could not be consumed so long as it remained there. Another version, " if we have faith sufficient," says Pliny, was that the Brontia got into the heads of tortoises after thunderstorms, and was to be found in their brain. This consequently possessed the virtue of extinguishing all fires caused by lightning. The fossil Belemnite, popularly called Thunderbolt in England, was a few years ago (in my recollection) uni­versally believed to fall from the sky under the same cir­cumstances as the Ceraunia ; perhaps, indeed, the Bsetyli of Sotacus, " black and round," may have signified this petrifaction, not the artificially-made celts. That these fossils were counted amongst the precious stones of primi­tive Man is not a mere matter of conjecture. In the very early tumulus on Langton Wold, opened in June, 1865, amongst the other ornaments interred therein with a female, shells, jet-beads, bronze pins, &c, was found "part of a Belemnite ground and polished to the shape of a roller."