5Z5 



ENCRINITES. 



ENCRINITES. 



528 



little elevated, pierced by a round hole, and radiated at their surface. 

 Auxiliary rays scattered. This genus has occurred hitherto in a 

 fossil state only, and has alone been found in strata posterior to the 

 Lias. 



A. roiundus, Round-Columned, Pear-like, Lily-shaped Animal 

 (Miller). It appears to be the Astiopoda elegans (stem) of Defrance. It 

 is the Bradford Pear-Encrinite of Parkinson, and is described by Miller 

 as a crinoidal animal, with a round column, composed of joints 

 adhering by radiating surfaces, of which from 10 to 14 gradually 

 enlarge at its apex, sustaining the pelvis, costse, and scapulfe, from 

 which the arms and tentaculated fingers proceed. Base formed by 

 exuding calcareous matter, which indurates in laminae, and perma- 

 nently attaches the animal to extraneous bodies. 



It occurs in the middle region of the Oolite at Bradford in 

 Wiltshire, Abbotsbury, near Weymouth, Dorsetshire, Soissons, 

 Rochelle, 4c. 



Miller describes and figures a second species, Apiocrinitea ellipticus 

 (Bottle-Encrinite, Strait-Encrinite, and Stag-Horn Encrinite of Park- 

 inson ; Goldfuss refers to it aa A. dangatut), and gives the Chalk-Pits 

 of Wiltshire and Kent as its loca- 

 lities. The bodies, &c. of this 

 species are the Chalk-Bottles of 

 the quarrymen. 



M. Goldfuss, in his great work, 

 records four additional species, 

 namely, A. rotacetw, A. mespili- 

 formu, and A . Mitten, (Schlotheim), 

 and A.flexuoiui, and A. obcmicui 

 Goldfuss), retaining Miller's A. 

 ellipticiu, and referring to Miller's 

 description of that species for A. 

 dongatva also. 



Encrinta (Encrinitet, True Lily- 

 shaped Animal of Miller.) 

 Miller characterises his genus 

 Encrinite* as a crinoidal animal, 

 with a column formed of numerous 

 round depressed joints, adhering 

 by a radiating grooved surface, and 

 becoming subpentangular near the 

 pelvis, which is composed of five 

 pieces, giving a lateral insertion to 

 the first series of costal plates, to 

 which the second series and sca- 

 pula; succeed, whence the tenta- 

 culated arms or fingers proceed, 

 formed by double series of joints. 

 He observes that the animals of 

 this genus have not hitherto 

 been found in a living state, 

 nor does he believe that their 

 remains have been discovered in 

 England. 



B. liliiformit, Lamarck. This is 

 the E. mont/i/<>rmi,Bead-coluimie<l, 

 True Lily-shaped Animal of Miller, 

 who describes the species as a cri- 

 noidal animal, with a column 

 formed of numerous round joints, 

 alternately, as they approach the 

 pelvis, larger and smaller, becom- 

 ing subpentangular when nearly 

 in contact with it. On the pelvis, 

 formed of five pieces, adhere late- 

 rally the first series of cos tie, on 

 which the second series of coattc is 

 placed, succeeded by the scapula;, 

 from which the ten tentaculated 

 arms or fingers proceed. Animal 

 permanently affixed by exuded 

 indurated matter. 



Miller's E. moniliform.it is pro- 

 bably the E. liliifffrm.it of Lamarck, 



the Encrine and Lys de Mer of the 



French, the Liliwm lapideum of 



Kftne of the older writers, and the 



Stone Lily of the English. It is 



found in the Muschel-Kalk, Hilde- 



sheim, Rakenberg near Goalar, 



Obernscheden and Azzenhausen, 



not far from Gemenden, in Lower 



Saxony ; Scwerven in Juliere, in 



Westphalia; the village of Erke- 



rode in Brunswick, about two miles 

 from the town bearing this name, near a wood called the Elm, Ac. 

 In thin lantiiniii<!<l locality the quarry is on the declivity of a hill 

 overgrown with wood, on which account the inhabitants oppose the 

 digging after them. The stratum containing them is hardly fifteen 



lily-Shaped Kncrinite (Enrrinai 

 liliiformis). 



to eighteen inches in thickness. Under the surface of the earth is a 

 friable, porous, argillaceous limestone, containing millions of columns 

 and columnar joints ; but many hours' digging is necessary before a 

 good specimen of the superior part, or stone-lily, can be procured 

 since the moisture in the stone contributes to their rapid destruction, 

 and their occurring on large pieces of stone makes them liable to 

 separation, which accounts for the many mended specimens. Another 

 and harder stratum under the above contains numerous crinoidal 

 remains ; but, according to the quarrymen, no stone- lilies. (Miller. ) 

 The author last quoted adds that there is good reason to believe that 

 the formation in which the remains are found near Brunswick corre- 

 sponds with the White Lias of England, as it appears to repose on the 

 newer Red-Sandstone containing salt and gypsum. 



Fine specimens of this fossil have always been and still are sought 

 for with great eagerness by collectors. In the ' Beytrage zur Natur- 

 geschichte,' Altenburg, 1774, it is stated that theEmperor of Germany 

 offered 100 dollars for a stone-lily free from the matrix, and attached 

 to its column. 



" The peculiarly fine lily encrinite," writes Miller, " figured by 

 Knorr, tab. 11, a, was, it is said, purchased (' Naturforscher,' Stuck 3) 

 from the labourers at the limestone quarry at Schrapland, near Halle, 

 by Inspector Wilkens, for thirty-two groschen, and given to Professor 

 Lange, who sold it to Baron Niegart. However in the same publica- 

 tion (Stuck 6), it is stated that it was not bought by Wilkens, but by 

 Mr. Vitigo, at Farrenstadt, near Querfurt, for two dollars, and given 

 to Lange, who sold it for three louis d'or. If my memory does not 

 misgive me, I think I saw the specimen about twenty years ago in 

 the collection of the Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, at Danzig. Where 

 is it now ?" 



Pentacrimu (Pentacrinites vel Pentacrinus, Five-Angled Lily- 

 shaped Animal, Miller; Peniagonites Rafinesqwe). The following 

 is the generic character as given by Miller : An animal with 

 a column formed of numerous pentangular joints, articulating by 

 surfaces with pentapetalous semistriated markings. Superior colum- 

 nar joint supporting a pelvis of five joints, on which five first 

 costals rest, succeeded by five second costals and five scapulae, from 

 which ten arms proceed, having each two hands, composed of several 

 tentaculated fingers. Column long, having numerous auxiliary side- 

 arms. Base not ascertained. 



* Recent Species. 



P, Caput-Meduice is a crinoidal animal having a column formed of 

 numerous pentangular joints, articulating by surfaces with peutape- 

 talous ovate striated markings; five auxiliary side-arms formed of 

 round joints proceeding from the column at intervals. Superior 

 columnar joints supporting a pelvis of five plates, to which the first 

 costals, second costals, and scapulae succeed, from which ten arms 

 proceed, each supporting two hands, subdividing into three fingers. 

 Lower extremity, or base, unknown. (Miller.) 



It is the Encrimu Caput-Medusce of Lamarck; his Asteria, of 

 Linnaeus. It inhabits the seas of the Antilles, and has been taken 

 near the island of Barbadoes (Dr. Hunter's specimen), also off Nevis 

 (specimen formerly belonging to James Tobin, Esq., now in the 

 British Museum), and Martinique (specimen in the Paris Museum). 

 There is also a specimen in the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons in London, and one in that of the Geological Society of London. 



Mr. Miller, in speaking of Mr. Tobin's specimen, says, " In the 

 drawing it up from the bottom of the sea, the animal has clearly 

 been broken off, leaving its posterior portion behind ; thus we have 

 lost the chance of ascertaining the fact, whether it adhered by a fixed 

 base, or had a locomotive power. The same accident has befallen 

 the other recent individuals that have been mentioned when speaking 

 of the locality of this species. However, judging from its analogy to 

 the Encrinut moniliformis, from its long column, numerous auxiliary 

 side-arms, and the associated manner in which groups of the following 

 species are sometimes found preserved on the surface of a single slab, 

 with the columns all tending towards the same point, as if issuing 

 from a common base, I conceive that this species also adhered by a 

 base to extraneous matter. This idea gains some further ground, 

 from all the recent specimens hitherto fouud having broken abruptly 

 off in the endeavour to remove them, as not being able to free them- 

 selves from the points of adhesion, which certainly would have been 

 the case had the animal possessed a locomotive power." This infer- 

 ence acquires additional confirmation from the observations made by 

 the late J. Tobin, Esq., on another specimen, namely " Some years 

 ago I was in possession of a larger Pentacrinite, which was brought 

 to me so fresh out of the sea that at the bottom (where it plainly 

 appeared to have been broken off from the rock to which it was fixed) 

 the blood was actually oozing from the vertebrae. This specimen I 

 endeavoured to preserve, but it was totally destroyed by the ants, 

 who ate every cartilage, so that it fell to pieces." Miller observes 

 upon this, that the 'blood' was the fluid in the alimentary canal, and 

 refusing to admit the assertion of Walch, that the Pentacrinite is an 

 animal crawling along the bottom of the sea, conceives it to have 

 generally stood more or less erect in the sea, yielding to the fury of 

 the storm in bending down, and adhering for additional security with 

 its side-arms to extraneous matter, or closing them to the column, 

 and thus offering the least surface possible to the element. The 



