8 
founded on superstitious ideas, their resemblance to other bodies, and the use 
they were applied to; as rosary beads, (Rosenk2anssteine, Germ.) giant’s tears, 
(hunnenthzaenen, Germ.) fairy stones, wheel stones, (Raevdersteine, Germ.) tor- 
chites, entrochites, &c. The angular columns being generally star-shaped re- 
ceived the names starstones, asterie, &c. 
AGricoLa considered these bodies aS inorganic infiltrations, similar to sta- 
lactites. Other early authors regarded them as_yertebral joints of fish, as 
corals, &c. ; and some who had more accurately observed the column and its 
termination, compared them to plants, whence the name of the stone lily (tet 
Lilfe, Germ.) was given to the superior extremities of our genus ENcrinvs. 
LunurnI believe first considered them as appendages to star fish; and when this 
idea was accepted by men of enquiry, and it was admitted, that they probably 
belonged to the asteria, (now the STeLLEriwes Euryave of M. Lamarck,) and 
might even exist in unexplored seas, researches were set on foot to discover 
them in a living or recent state. A recent species of these animals was sup- 
posed to have a aa when the PennaTuba ENCRINUS of the immortal 
Linnzus, of which Exuis gives a description as an hydra, was first noticed. 
But this, on closer examination, proved to differ so materially from the Encrr- 
NITE, that it furnished Lamarck with the type of his new genus UMBELLULA- 
kIA. Soon afterwards, however, a portion of an animal was found which bore 
a great resemblance to the asterial columns occurring so frequently in lias and 
oolite, possessing, indeed, an absolute identity of generic characters. Linnxus 
improperly classed this species under the genus Isis, as Isis asrerta, which 
error M. Lamarck corrected, and placed it in his genus Encrinus, as Encri- 
NUS CAPUT MEDUSE, and which I have removed to the genus PENTACRINITES 
‘(Pentacrinus) retaining M. Lamarcx’s specific name. A 
Geological Distribution of the Crinoidea. 
Some species, as CyaTHocRINITES rugosus, &e, are found amongst the 
rliest traces of organic remains, imbedded in the transition limestone for- 
mation, Other species of the genera AcrinocriniTEs, PLATYCRINITES, 
Ruopocrinites, Porertocrinites, and CyaTHocrIniTEs, occur in the moun- 
tain and maguesian limestone deposits, where they are lost, (as far as I 
have been able to ascertain) and make room for the different species 
PenTacrinites, which may be traced through the beds of the lias, oolit 
and chalk, and of which one species, the Penracrinus cApuT MEDUSE 
