460 CRIN01DEA ; PENTACRINUS. 



those of the arms. From this stem there arise, at regular inter- 

 vals, several verticils, or whorls, of secondary arms ; which do 

 not subdivide, and are destitute of lateral appendages. From 

 what is known of the animal in its living condition, there can 

 be no doubt that all these parts are covered with a fleshy integu- 

 ment, by which they are produced, and to which they owe their 

 power of movement. This integument seems to dip down 

 between each joint, and to form the connecting medium between 

 the different pieces. As the base of the stem of the recent species 

 has never been obtained, the mode by which the Pentacrinus 

 attaches itself to solid bodies has never been clearly made out ; 

 but there is reason to believe, from the circumstances under 

 which fossil remains are sometimes met with, that the animals 

 of this genus are not permanently adherent to solid masses, but 

 have the power of occasionally detaching themselves. 



1018. In some of the fossil species, the subdivision and 

 ramification of the arms is carried to a much greater extent, than 

 in either of the recent forms of this tribe. The number of pieces 

 in the skeleton thus becomes very large. In the Pentacrinus 

 Briareus, it has been calculated that at least 100,000 exist, 

 exclusively of the joints of the lateral appendages, which are 

 probably more than 50,000 additional. As each joint was fur- 

 nished with at least two bundles of muscular fibre, one for its 

 contraction, the other for its extension, we have 300,000 such in 

 the body of a single Pentacrinus an amount of muscular appa- 

 ratus far exceeding any that has been elsewhere observed in the 

 Animal Creation. But it will be remarked that these parts are 

 but repetitions of one another in structure, and that consequently 

 their variety of actions must be very small ; and, accordingly 

 we find that the movements of this complex piece of mechanism 

 are far less capable of being combined and adapted to a specific 

 purpose, than those of a prehensile structure of higher organi- 

 sation, the hand of Man with its twenty-seven bones and 

 thirty-nine muscles. A repetition of similar parts always 

 implies a low degree of organisation, as it indicates a very 

 small amount of variety in the functions to be performed ; 

 and the approach towards a higher character is marked 



