60 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL niSTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



certainly the most plausible, but we are not likely ever to know 

 whether they were fixed to the sea bottom, or on substances lying 

 on it, in some way, or were free-swimmers : if the last, then they 

 must have been furnished with some kind of special float. 



All the recent Ciinoidea. or their close allies, are — so far as I 

 know — fixed by a calcareous cement. 



The Bradford Pear Crinoid, Ainocrinus Parkinsoni, Schloth, 

 has strong calcareous '■ roots," and I have collected specimens of 

 moderate size from the Wenlock formation showinsj the bases of 

 the stems attached to Corals. (See figure c.) 



The specimens I have found at Auchenskeith and Westerhouse 

 show the fingers or branches twisted once, twice, and three times 

 round the stems of other Crinoids — all the examples being very 

 small. One of them shows that the stem of attachment had con- 

 tinued to grow, and the finger or branch to grasp it, till the stem 

 died ; for it had swollen round the sides of the finger as a growing 

 tree does with fencing wire fixed round it. 



The species to which the grasping arms or fingers belonged 

 appears to be a very small smooth variety, the "cuj)S " of which 

 are got in the shale along with them. 



Mr. Bennie was also good enough to look up for me the 

 " Challenger " monograph on the Crinoids, but could find no re- 

 ference to a grasping power in any of those dredged by that 

 expedition, and figured and described in the monograph. 



I asked Mr. Thomas Scott, F.L.S., of the Marine Station, 

 Granton, if he could tell me if any of the recent Crinoidea have 

 the power of catching hold with their " fingers,'"' and he replied 

 that — " The habits of Antedons (Echinoderms) lead me to believe 

 that they can grasp suitable objects with their flexible arms; as a 

 matter of fact, it is often difiicult to disengage them from amongst 

 zoophites, owing to this very habit." 



Since Mr. Scott's attention has been drawn to this matter, we 

 will be sure to have more definite information regarding it by- 

 and-bye. What we want to know is whether any recent Crinoidea 

 can twist their arms tightly round a hard object, like a bit of 

 brass wire twisted round a pen stick, the tendrils of some plants, 

 or the prehensile tails of certain animals. 



Some of the Carboniferous Crinoid bases or " rooting " processes 

 are tivisted roicnd stems of Crinoids (figure b), but they are gener- 



