OBSERVATIONS 
~ 
_ 
. ON THE 
GENUS 
Mlarsupites, or the Purse-ltke Animals, 
Generic Character. 
An unattached animal with a subglobose body containing the viscera pro- 
tected by calcareous plates, of which that in the centre at the base is angular, 
having a series of costal plates resting on it, admitting intercostals at their 
superior angles, these giving insertion to the scapule from which the arms pro- 
ceed. Space between the scapule covered by an integument, protected by 
numerous small plates. 
Observation. 
The Marsupites have not as yet been found in a living state, and may pro- 
bably be considered as extinct animals. They furnish an instance, how much 
an examination of the organic remains in the strata of the earth, enlarges our 
zoological knowledge, tends to display new mechanism, and exhibits new links, 
which render the transition between the species regular and gradual. 
Thus the want of the column formed of many joints, separates the Crinoi-— 
dea from the stelleridz. . 
