8 



founded on superstitious ideas, their resemblance to other bodies, and the use 

 they were applied to ; as rosary beads, (K0SeNft?cUl>$ttttf , Germ.) giant's tears, 

 (5)tinnentl)?aenen, Germ.) fairy stones, wheel stones, (Raefcersteme, Germ.) tor- 

 chites, entrochites, &c. The angular columns being generally star-shaped re- 

 ceived the names starstones, asteriae, &c. 



AGRICOLA considered these bodies as inorganic infiltrations, similar to sta- 

 lactites. Other early authors regarded them as vertebral joints of fish, as 

 corals, &c. ; and some who had more accurately observed the column and its 

 termination, compared them to plants, whence the name of the stone lily (^tftll 

 ILlIf?, Gerrn.) was given to the superior extremities of our genus ENCRINUS. 

 LLIIUID! believe first considered them as appendages to star fish; and when this 

 idea was accepted by men of enquiry, and it was admitted, that they probably 

 belonged to the asteria, (now the STELLEKIDES EURYALE of M. LAMARCK,) and 

 might even exist in unexplored seas, researches were set on foot to discover 

 them in a living or recent state. A recent species of these animals was sup- 

 posed to have been detected, when the PENNATULA ENCRINUS of the immortal 

 JLiNNjEUS, of which ELLIS gives a description as an hydra, was first noticed. 

 But this, on closer examination, proved to differ so materially from the ENCRI- 

 NITE, that it furnished LAMARCK with the type of his new genus UMBELLULA- 

 KIA. Soon afterwards, however, a portion of an animal was found which bore 

 a great resemblance to the asterial columns occurring so frequently in lias and 

 oolite, possessing, indeed, an absolute identity of generic characters. LINN.EUS 

 improperly classed this species under the genus Jsis, as Isis ASTERIA, which 

 error M. LAMARCK corrected, and placed it in his genus ENCRINUS, as ENCRI- 

 NUS CAPUT MEDUSA, and which I have removed to the genus PENTACRINITES 

 (Pentacrinus) retaining M. LAMARCK'S specific name. 



Geological Distribution of the Crinoidea. 



Some species, as CYATHOCRINITES rugosus, &c. are found amongst the 

 earliest traces of organic remains, imbedded in the transition limestone for- 

 mation. Other species of the genera ACTINOCRINITES, PLATYCRINITES, 

 RHODOCRINITES, POTERIOCRINITES, and CYATHOCKINITES, occur in the moun- 

 tain and magnesian limestone deposits, where they are lost, (as far as I 

 have been able to ascertain,) and make room for the different species of 

 PENTACRINITES, which may be traced through the beds of the lias, oolite, 

 and chalk, and of which one species, the PENTACRINUS CAPUT MEDUSA 



