Editing Coprolite (section)

==Initial discovery==

British fossil hunter [[Mary Anning]] noticed as early as 1824 that "[[Bezoar|bezoar stones]]" were often found in the abdominal region of [[ichthyosaur]] skeletons found in the [[Lias Group|Lias]] formation at [[Lyme Regis]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Torrens, H | title = Mary Anning (1799–1847) of Lyme;'the greatest fossilist the world ever knew' | journal = British Journal for the History of Science | year = 1995 | volume = 28 | issue = 3 | pages = 257–284| doi = 10.1017/S0007087400033161 | doi-access = free }}</ref> She also noted that if such stones were broken open they often contained fossilized fish bones and scales as well as sometimes bones from smaller ichthyosaurs. These observations by Anning led the geologist William Buckland to propose in 1829 that the stones were fossilized [[feces]] and to name them coprolites. Buckland also suspected that the spiral markings on the fossils indicated that ichthyosaurs had spiral ridges in their intestines similar to those of modern sharks and that some of these coprolites were black with ink from swallowed [[belemnite]]s.<ref>Rudwick, Martin ''Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform'' pp. 154-155.</ref>