belemnite

belemniitti puhekieltä An extinct order (taxlink) of Mesozoic marine cephalopod, very similar in many ways to the modern squid and closely related to the modern cuttlefish; a fossil of this creature
1895, (w), s:The Time Machine|The Time Machine, ch VIII

In the universal decay this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousands of centuries. It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago.