86 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 



compared with that of the Crinoideae. The central plate is 

 large and of a pentagonal form, without the slightest trace of 

 a process of attachment : five pentagonal pieces are united to 

 the sides of the central plate, and above these a like number 

 of hexagonals, which receive the five upper plates that form 

 the margin ; each of the latter has a semilunar depression to 

 articulate with the first joint of the arm. 



Detached plates and ossicula of marsupites are not un- 

 common in the chalk of Kent and Sussex ; nearly entire 

 receptacles, filled with chalk or flint, are occasionally found in 

 the pits near Lewes and Brighton ; but examples with re- 

 mains of the arms are extremely rare ; and I have seen but 

 one specimen (the one in the Case before us, which I collected 

 from the Sussex chalk), in which .the plates of the integu- 

 ment that covered the opening of the receptacle are pre- 

 served. 1 



APIOCRINITES. (A. Parkinsnni.) Pear-Encrinite of Brad- 

 ford. Wall-case G. The "Pear-Encrinite," from its size, 

 and the abundance of its remains in one particular locality, 

 is the most generally known of all the British fossil Crinoidese. 

 It abounds in the beds of oolite, especially in the quarries on 

 the heights above the picturesquely situated town of Brad- 

 ford, in Wiltshire. The receptacle, detached ossicula, and 

 the pedicles or roots, are very common ; and in some in- 

 stances the entire skeleton from the peduncle to the extre- 

 mities of the arms, is met with. The late Channing Pearce, 

 Esq., of Bradford, by unremitting attention to the collecting 

 of these fossils, obtained the beautiful specimens deposited 

 in this Case. 



This Apiocrinite has a smooth receptacle of a pyriform shape, 

 composed of large plates with radiated articulating surfaces ; 

 the stem is short and strong ; the arms simple, resembling those 

 of the marsupite ; the peduncle spreads out into an expanded 

 base, which is firmly attached to the rock, like that of the 

 Gorgonia, and is generally of a rich purple colour. 2 Sir Charles 

 Lyell mentions an interesting fact relating to the occurrence 

 of these fossils in the oolite strata at Bradford. In Bur- 



1 See " Medals of Creation," p. 319, Lign. 70; "Pictorial Atlas," 

 PI. XL VI., fig. 24 ; " Wonders of Geology," p. 652. 



2 See " Wonders of Geology," p. 653; "Pict. Atlas," PI. L. 



