cetotolite

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A name of certain fossil cetaceous ear-bones, occurring in such profusion in the Upper Tertiary formation, as the red crag of Suffolk, England, that superphosphate of potash is prepared from them on an extensive scale, and used as manure for land. The ear-bones are the tympanic and petrosal, a characteristic and very durable part of the skull of cetaceans, readily detached from the rest.