286 Mr. T. Austin on the Connexion between 



find that no connecting link is wanting in the chain which seems 

 to run through animated nature from an early period of time to 

 the present day. Thus again the Lansdown Encrinite, discovered 

 some years since by Mr. Baretti, of Bath, in the Oolite at Lans- 

 down, is another connecting link between the fixed and free 

 Echinoderms. This Crinoid has heretofore been placed in the 

 genus Apiocrinus, but the impropriety of arranging a free loco- 

 motive animal in the same genus with those which were perma- 

 nently attached by a massive base, and from which it so essen- 

 tially differs, is too apparent to require a moment's hesitation in 

 elevating it into a new genus, for which the name of Gnathocrinus 

 has been proposed. 



The column of this fossil consists of a series of annular pieces, 

 more or less numerous in different individuals ; each joint gra- 

 dually decreases in size as it recedes from the body, until the 

 terminal joint ends in a small obtuse point without the slightest 

 indication of root, or other appendage for permanent attachment. 

 It would seem from this, that the animal possessed the power of 

 free locomotion, and it may also be inferred that by twining its 

 tapering column round extraneous objects, such as coral branches, 

 sea weed, &c., it could moor itself securely to watch for its prey, 

 or in order to remain at rest. 



The genus Apiocrinus affords considerable insight into the 

 anatomy of the whole tribe. In this genus, I have examined 

 specimens ranging from the embryonic monad to the mature 

 and perfect animal, which at its first dawn of existence seems to 

 have borne some resemblance to a minute Actinea encased in a 

 calcareous integument. In the fossilized embryonic roots and 

 stems the form of the parent Crinoid had not yet become fully 

 developed, therefore proving that these animals were oviparous, 

 since from the smallness of these rudimentary specimens, it is 

 evident they were in their earliest state of existence mere mo- 

 nads, and yet are found attached, not to the parent's body, but 

 to a plate that had been separated from its original place, and 

 had lain for some time exposed at the bottom of the sea. 

 Whereas the offspring produced by gemmiferous generation 

 never become detached from the body of the parent until they 

 have attained a considerable size and more perfect. form. 



Some well-preserved specimens show the oviducts in different 

 stages of advancement towards ejecting the ova. In others we 

 see, through the displacement of the pieces, the internal opening 

 for the passage of the oviduct, and in others the oviducts appear 

 as if turgid with ova. These specimens prove that the animals 

 possessed ovaries with five ducts as in Echini. 



If we make a horizontal section of an Actinocrinus where the 

 rays divide the body into the dorsal and ventral parts, the figure 



