184 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



The Chevalier d'Eichwald held * that the small bodies de- 

 scribed by Dr Pander as Conodonts from the Orthoceratite 

 Limestone of St Petersburg, were fragments of the calcareous 

 anchors and plates similar to those found in the skin of 

 Synapta and other Holothuroidea. It is hardly necessary to 

 mention that Pander's view of the af&nity of these little 

 bodies is that generally accepted. f 



In 1865 Mr C. Sch wager :J: described some microscopic 

 bodies from the Oolitic Piocks, which he considered to be the 

 wheels of Cheirodota. One of these is named C. Sieholdii,^ 

 and the other is specifically undetermined. |1 Without ex- 

 pressing a decided opinion, these bodies appear to me to 

 have more affinity with Polyzoa than with the Holothuroidea, 

 although they seem to be so regarded by Professor Zittel in 

 his recently published work.U 



A paper which I believe contains references to fossil Holo- 

 thuroidea, by Messrs Terquem and Jourdy, entitled, " Mono- 

 graphic de r£tage Bathonien de la Moselle," I am sorry to 

 say I have not been able to consult. 



The bodies described by Von Miinster from the Jura Lime- 

 stone of Streitburg, and which I believe to be the only definite 

 remains of Holothuroidea yet noticed in either Palaeozoic or 

 Secondary Continental Eocks, are of two kinds. The first 

 (Synapta Sieboldii) consists of a well-formed anchor with a 

 long shaft, non-serrated flukes, and a small transverse terminal 

 piece,** corresponding quite with the anchor spicules of many 

 recent Synaptce. With these occur little hammer-like bodies, 

 having a long shaft,-)"!- which, although not so clearly Holo- 

 thuroid as the anchors, may still be of that nature. Professor 

 Zittel regards the anchors'of Synapta Sieboldii as the spicules 

 of spongeSjJI a view which may have some force in it from the 

 three-fluked nature of the pieces. No notice of the occur- 

 rence of Holothuroid remains in the rocks of our own country 



* «'LetligeaRossica" (1860), i., p. 661. 



t See G. J. Hinde, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, 1879, xxxv., p. 351. 



% Jahr. fiir Vaterlandisclie Naturkunde, xxii., p. 82. 



§ hoc. cit., p. 144, t. 7, f. 26. i| Loc. cit., p. 144, t. 7, f. 30. 



% "Handbuch," p. 560. 



** Beitrage zur Petrefact. , p. 92, t. 4, f. 9. 



ft Loc. cit, p. 93, t. 4, f. 10. XX "Handbucli," p. 560. 



