REPORT ON THE CRINOIDEA. 295 
that the character on which von Meyer established Chelocrinus is one of no systematic 
value whatever. One of the two species on which he founded the genus was the 
Encrinus pentactinus of Bronn.* This name was proposed for a single specimen which 
presented a very remarkable combination of characters. The cup appears to be that of a 
typical Zncrinus with some twenty biserial arms. The stem has a rounded pentagonal 
outline, and consists of about twenty-five joints, some of which bear verticils of five 
cirri. Beyrich appears to consider these characters as of altogether subordinate value, 
for he says’—‘‘die etwas abweichende Form des fiinfseitigen Stengels mit deutlich 
eingesenkten Seiten kann eben so wenig fiir ein unterscheidendes Artmerkmal gelten, wie 
die von Bronn beobachteten kurzen Civren, welche anscheinend individuell hier und 
da bei verschiedenen Enerinus-arten vorkommen kénnen.” There is a considerable 
difference, however, between a regular verticillate arrangement of cirri and their occasional 
presence here and there upon the stem, about which Beyrich does not speak very 
confidently, so far as Encrinus is concerned. I cannot make out, indeed, that any stem 
of an Encrinus has ever been described as bearing isolated cirri in the manner referred 
to by Beyrich ; while, on the other hand, the verticillate arrangement has been discovered 
by Picard* in an imperfectly preserved fragment from the Muschelkalk which he has 
described as Enerinus beyrichi—* Der Stengel ist von seinem untersten Theile an mit 
Ranken versehen. Dieselben treten von unten herauf erst spirlicher und in grésseren 
Abstiinden auf; am oberen Theile ist je das achte Siiulenglied ein Cirrentriger und 
erscheint horizontal etwas verdickt. Die Anhaftestelle fiir die Cirre befindet sich 
regelmiissig auf der concaven Fliche zwischen je zwei der finf Kanten, so dass em 
Wirtel von 5 Cirren den Stiel umgiebt.” He continues—“ Als Pentacrinus wage ich 
meinen Fund nicht auszusprechen. Denn obwohl die Fiille an Cirren und der ganze 
Habitus der Siiule sehr zu dieser Auffassung driingt, hat mich doch die Zusammensetzung 
der Krone, soweit sie klar ist, bestimmt, bei der Gattung Hucrinus zu bleiben.” There 
would seem therefore to be no doubt as to the oceurrence of cirrus-verticils on the stems 
of other Neocrinoids besides the Pentacrinidee ; while there are certain Palzocrinoids 
both in this country and in America which present the same character. Although, 
however, this fact diminishes the value of that peculiarity of the Pentacrinidee which is 
most evident at first sight, it does not follow that the verticillate arrangement of the 
cirri in these other types is also associated with the presence of syzygies at the nodes and 
the mode of union of the internodal joints, which are such especial features of all the 
Pentacrinidee. The Pentacrinus dubius of Goldfuss and Quenstedt shows these points 
very well, the five petals being visible on the faces of many joints found in the Muschel- 
kalk at different localities ; while the stem of von Schlotheim’s specimen (6 inches long) 
1 Ueber die Krinoideen-Reste im Muschelkalk, Newes Jahrb. f. Mineralogie, Jahrg. 1837, p. 32, Taf. ii. 
2 Crinoideen des Muschelkalks, loc. cit., p. 36. 
3 Zeitschr. d. deutsch. geol. Gesellsch., Jahrg, 1883, p. 201. 
