208 HOMOLOGIES. 



these natural divisions, and on each such frag- 

 ment is stamped a star-like impression resem- 

 bling those found upon the loose stones or Tro- 

 chites. 



About a century ago, Guettard the naturalist 

 described a curious specimen from Porto Rico, so 

 similar to these fossil lilies of the rocks that he 

 believed they must have some relation to each 

 other. He did not detect its animal nature, but 

 from its long stem and branching crown he 

 called it a marine palm. Thus far neither the 

 true nature of the living specimen, nor of the 

 Trochites, nor of the fossil lilies was understood, 

 but it was nevertheless an important step to have 

 found that there was a relation between them. 

 A century passed away, and Guettard's speci- 

 men, preserved at the Jardin des Plantes, waited 

 with Sphinx-like patience for the man who should 

 solve its riddle. 



Cuvier, who held the key to so many of the 

 secrets of Nature, detected at last its true struc- 

 ture ; he pronounced it to be a Star-Fish with a 

 stem, and at once the three series of facts respect- 

 ing the Trochites, the fossil lilies, and Guettard's 

 marine palm assumed their true relation to each 

 other. The Trochites were recognized as simply 

 the broken portions of the stem of some of these 

 old fossil Crinoids, and the Crinoids themselves 

 were seen to be the ancient representatives of 



