Crinoids 



The crinoids, sometimes called sea-lilies, are animals of a plant-like 

 appearance. Their globular or cup-shaped bodies with radiating jointed 

 arms are generally supported by a stem or stalk. Their total length may 

 be from a fraction of an inch to over sixty feet. Plates cover the body in a 

 symmetrical fashion, usually in arrangements of five. 



The crinoid stem consists of numerous button-like discs stacked in a 

 column. Through the center of the stem is typically found a rounded or a 

 star-like opening. Crinoids lived in great numbers in the shallow Devonian 

 and Silurian seas. Very rarely is the whole animal preserved; upon the 

 death of the animal its calcium carbonate plates fell apart. Disc-shaped 

 sections of crinoid stems are among the commonest fossils in many local 

 rocks, at places making up a large percentage of the rock itself. 



Graptolites 



Graptolites are extinct, colonial organisms which usually appear fos- 

 silized as flattened films of carbon on rocks. They possessed a protecting 

 and supporting skeleton; the individual animals lived in cups or pits along 

 the chitinous stalk. In some forms the stem was attached to a round float 

 and in others two, three, or four stems might be attached together. Most 

 graptolites floated free in the oceans and were scattered throughout jhe 

 world. 



During fossilization the skeletons became carbonized so that they 

 resemble black shiny lines with irregular edges. Inocaulis is a graptolite 

 which can be found in the rocks of Western New York. 



References 



Goldring, W. F. 1950. Handbook of Paleontology for Beginners and 

 Amateurs: Part I, The Fossils. Second Edition. New York State 

 Museum Handbook 9. 



Grabau, A. W. 1899. The Paleontology of Eighteen Mile Creek and the 

 Lake Shore Sections of Erie County., New York. Buffalo Society of 

 Natural Sciences Scientific Bulletin 6. 



Grabau, A. W. 1901. Guide to the Geology and Paleontology of Niagara 

 Falls and Vicinity. New York State Museum Bulletin 45. pp. 130-252. 



Moore, R. C. (ed.) 1955-. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Univer- 

 sity of Kansas Press and Geology Society of America. Parts in process 

 of publication. 



Shimer, W. H. and Shrock, R. R. 1944. Index Fossils of North America. 

 New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 



Shrock, R. R. and Twenhofel, W. H. 1953. Principles of Invertebrate 

 Paleontology. Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 



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