2G6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1879. 



7. TAXOCRINTJS Phillips. 



1836. Poteriocrinus, Phillips (in part). Geol. Yorksh., toI. i. (not Miller). 



1841. Isocrinus, Phillips. Pal. Foss. Cornw. (not H. von Meyer 1837). 



1842. Cladocrinus, Austin. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. x. (not Agassiz). 



1843. Taxoerinus, Phillips. Morris's Cat. Brit. Foss., p. 90. 



1851. Cyathocrinus, Roemer. Leth. Geognost. (3te Ausgabe), p. 233 



(not Miller). 

 1853. Forbesiocrinus, de Kon. & Leh. (in part). Recherch. Crinoid. Belg. 



p. 119. 

 1866. Taxoerinus, Schultze. Echinod. Eifl. Kalkes, p. 33. 

 1878. Taxoerinus, Angelin. Iconogr. Crinoid., p. 8. 

 1878. Taxoerinus., sub-genus of JchtJiyocrinus, Wachsm. & Spr. Proceed. 



Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. p. 252. 



According to Phillips (Morris's Catal. Brit. Foss ), Taxoerinus 

 has " 5 basals ; 3 radial plates in 5 series ; arms dividing upon the 

 third radial and frequently dichotomizing above this point; arms 

 and branches of single series of joints, interbrachial and axillary 

 plates." 



This description embraces almost every genus of the Ichthyo- 

 crinidse, among them Fo7 % besiocrinus. 



Johannes Miiller, Monatsbericht der Berliner Akademie, March, 

 1858, was the first who mentioned the presence in Taxoerinus of 

 three small pieces within the parabasalia basals, similar to 

 those found by Hall in Ichthyocrinus, and in species which were 

 supposed to be Forbesiocrinus. Miiller's discovery was evidently 

 overlooked by Hall, who in 1858 described his Taxoerinus inter- 

 scapulars with five basals and no subradials; and in 1861, and 

 even later, he refers several species with three basals and five sub- 

 radials to Forbesiocrinus, which undoubtedly belong to Taxoeri- 

 nus. Schultze, in his description of Phillips genus (Monogr. p. 32) 

 calls the small plates " cryptobasalia," because they are always 

 hidden by the column, and sometimes only visible within the 

 calyx. 



The tripartite proximal ring, rudimentar}' in some instances, is 

 now admitted to belong to all the genera which we include among 

 the Ichthyocrinidse, and it therefore no longer forms a generic 

 distinction. 



The separation of Taxoerinus and Forbesiocrinus has always 

 been a stumbling block to Paleontologists. De Koninck and 

 Lehon gave as the principal distinction, that Taxoerinus had no 



