344 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1888. 



finding the ventral covering in place. We had seen, however, in 

 some specimens of Taxocrinus from the Kinderhook beds at Le 

 Grand, Iowa, that there was an integument of some kind taking 

 the form of pouches along the ventral side of the rays, and this in- 

 duced a faint hope, in vie\A{k0f the unusually fine preservation of the 

 fossils at that locality, that something more might eventually be 

 found out about it. 



On the 9th of August last, we made an excursion to Le Grand, 

 for the purpose of obtaining some needed material for our work on 

 the Crinoids of North America now in progress. Upon arriving at 

 the station we met Mr. George (^Jull, the agent of the Chicago and 

 Northwestern Railway, to whom we were already indebted for many 

 favors. While exhibiting to us some interesting fossils collected 

 by him in that vicinity, he produced a specimen of Taxocrinus with 

 the greater part of the rays broken off. We saw at once that it had 

 the ventral covering preserved in place, though largely imbedded in 

 a matrix of exceedingly fine calcareous mud. Upon being inform- 

 ed that the specimen possessed especial value as throwing light upon 

 important scientific questions, he presented it to us, with the re- 

 mark : "I will donate it to Science." For the valuable assistance 

 he thereby afforded us he has our grateful thanks, and in this we are 

 sure that every naturalist who is interested in the morphological 

 study of Echinoderms will join us. 



Although we saw at once that there was an integument of very 

 small pieces, with covered ambulacral furrows running toward some 

 large plates in the center, it was not until we had with great labor, 

 and the most delicate manipulation, cleaned the specimen from the 

 fine adherent matrix, that we discovered the extraordinary fact 

 that it has an external mouth, surrounded hj five parted oral plates, 

 with the ambulacra converging to it and passing in between the orals. 



The specimen belongs to a species which we have described and 

 figured for the 8th volume of the Illinois Geological Survey, now in 

 press, as Taxocrinus intermedius. It represents a form of Taxo- 

 crinus in which tliere is a strong tendency toward the free and 

 spreading rays of Onyehocrinus, to which genus, indeed, we were for 

 some time inclined to refer it. Several specimens of it have been 

 found before, but all of them had the arms closely folded, and were 

 more or less flattened by pressure. This individual, exceptionally, 

 ■was deposited with the rays Avell extended and without any flatten- 

 ing, leaving the ventral side in an almost natural position. Most 



