Book on Fossil Objects, Stones, and Gems

...if any shapes or forms should occur that are similar to no other natural thing, they could also be classified here. However, I believe that hardly any of this sort are to be found. For these resemblances are mostly quite obscure, and we possess nothing certain or constant regarding them. Therefore, one should feel free to categorize such things either here or elsewhere. Points original: puncta; in this context, the smallest decorative markings on a stone should take their place before lines; moreover, the scattering and variety of points and spots is usually, or can be, compared to the patterns on the bodies of serpents.

A jasper with onyx-like spots original: Onychipuncta iaſpis is named the Jasponyx gem by Pliny Pliny the Elder, author of the Natural History, the primary encyclopedic source for Gesner’s mineralogy.; he also celebrates another kind of jasper that is "starred" with glowing red points. The same author says of the Sandastros Historically identified as a type of sunstone or aventurine feldspar containing sparkling metallic inclusions.: "Its highest recommendation," he says, "is that golden drops shine within the translucent stone, sparkling like stars." In the Sideropoecilos original: Sideropœcilo; literally "variegated iron-stone," likely a type of magnetite or hematite with colored spots., Pliny notes that the "drops" or spots vary.

Points that are variously scattered upon a surface are sometimes elegantly called "stars," as will also appear in Chapter 2, among the stones named after stars...