102 Mr. F. A. Bather on the 



XI J. — T/ie Lower Pahnozoic Crinoids of Bohemia. 

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



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

 is welcome indeed to students of Pala?ozoic f^eology ami palaj- 

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

 The account of the rich and varied Cystid fauna, published 

 13 years ago, had given us hope tliat 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. 1'he 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 sj)ared in looking up the literature^ while some 

 valuable pa])ers 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 ro- 

 sponsiljle. 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 ochrcous 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 d4 and d5, and two 

 species of a new genus, Caleidocri'nus, from d4 (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 Sc^phocrinus and of the new genera 

 Bohernicocrinus^ Carolicrinus, and Lauheocrinus, ail wliich, 

 exeejjt the last, occur more abundantly in the underlying- 

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

 yields Beyridiocrinus humi/ts, gen. et sp. nov., as well as a 



♦ * Systeme Silurien du centre de la Bobeme,' par Joachim Barraude. 

 Ifere partie : Recherches Pal^ontologiques. Continuation ^ditee par 

 le Musee Boheme. Vol. vii. Clast-e des Eebinodermes. 2" partie : 

 Famille des Crinoides. Par le Prof. Dr. W. Waageu et le Dr. J. 

 Jahn. Traduit par A. S. Oudin. vi and 210 pp., 40 pis. numbered xl- 

 ixxix. Pra{?ue (Dec. 1899). 



