102 Mr. F. A. Bather on the 



XI J. — The Lower Palceozoic Crinoids of Bohemia. 

 By F. A. Bather, M.A., F.G.S. 



The latest volume of ' The Silurian System of Bohemia ' * 

 is welcome indeed to students of Palaeozoic geology and palae- 

 ontology, and more than welcome to the worker on Crinoids. 

 The account of the rich and varied Cysticl fauna, published 

 13 years ago, had given us hope that the unwearied efforts of 

 Barrande might have garnered up a fairly rich harvest of 

 Crinoids, while the known differences between this province 

 and that of North-west Europe led us to expect considerable 

 novelty. The eminence and experience of the senior author 

 and the intelligent zeal of his collaborator were further war- 

 rant for pleasurable anticipation. We knew that no pains 

 were being spared in looking up the literature, while some 

 valuable papers by Dr. Jahn indicated that the statements of 

 horizon and locality were being placed on a sure basis. If, 

 after all, disappointment be our dole, this is due to many 

 causes, for most of which the authors are in no way re- 

 sponsible. In the first place, the material is neither rich nor 

 well preserved : the many-plated calyces are often crushed 

 and their plates disarranged • they are covered to a deplor- 

 able extent by "an extremely hard, irremovable limestone 

 matrix " ; several specimens that might have been interesting 

 are represented by mere ochreous powder. Then the vast 

 majority of forms come from one stratum alone, namely reef- 

 like bands of limestone that form a transition between the 

 beds e 1 and e 2 (about equivalent to our Woolhope Lime- 

 stone) : the first fauna (Cambrian) furnishes no crinoid 

 remains; the second fauna (Ordovician) includes a few 

 indeterminable columns chiefly from d.4 and d5, and two 

 species of a new genus, Caleidocrinus, from d.4 (about equal to 

 Middle Bala) ; the third fauna (Silurian s. str.) yields a very 

 few stem-fragments from el, rather more from e2, along with 

 recognizable specimens of Sci/phocrinus and of the new genera 

 Bohernicocrinus, Carolicrinus, and Laubeocrinus, all which, 

 except the last, occur more abundantly in the underlying 

 transition beds ; f 1 contains a few doubtful remains, and f 2 

 yields Beyrichocrinus humilis } gen. et sp. nov., as well as a 



* ' Systems Silurien du centre de la Boheine/ par Joachim Barrande. 

 lere partie : Recherches Paleontologiques. Continuation e"ditee par 

 le Musee Bohenie. Vol. vii. Classe des Echinodermes. 2 e partie : 

 Famille des Crinoides. Par le Prof. Br. W. Waagen et le Br. J. 

 Jalm. Traduit par A. S. Oudiu. vi and 21(3 pp., 40 pis. numbered xl - 

 lxxix. Prague (Bee. 1899). 



