300 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cuap. VIII. 
hay the surface granulated and rugous, and these Mr. Miller 
regarded as distinct, and named J. ornatus. J have not of | 
late years been able to obtain specimens to determine this — 
question. 
The Marsupites vary in size, from an inch to three inches — 
in length, exclusive of the arms. The receptacle is rela- 
tively very capacious compared with that of other crinoi-— 
deans. The central plate is large, and of a pentagonal form, 
without the slightest indication of any column or process of — 
attachment: five pentagonal plates are united to the sides 
of the basal plate, and above these a like number of hexa- 
gonals, which receive the five upper plates that constitute — 
the margin ; these have each a semilunar depression, to } 
articulate with the first bones of the arms, or brachial ap- — 
pendages. 
Detached plates and ossicula of marsupites are not un-— 
common in the Chalk of Kent and Sus- 
chalk or flint, are occasionally found in 
the pits near Lewes and Brighton; but 
examples with remains of the arms are 
extremely rare ; and I have seen but one 
the receptacle are preserved,* 
stars, which we shall presently notice. 
Lian. 96.—MARSUPITES ‘ 
Resemen oie Its general form and habits are suffi- 
Chalk, Lewes. ciently indicated by the numercus spe- 
cimens that have been collected in the Chaik of the south- 
east of England. 
* It is figured in my South D. Foss, pl. xvi. fig. 6. 
sex ; nearly entire receptacles, filled with — 
specimen (which I collected from the 
Sussex chalk), in which the plates of the — 
integument that covered the opening of — 
The Marsupite is an exceedingly in- — 
teresting type, in a zoological point of — 
view, since it forms a link that unites the — 
Crinoidea with the Comatule, or feather- — 
