Reviews — Bather'' s Crinoidea 6f Gotland. 131 



Gotland probably holds the first rank. The beautiful specimens 

 procured during many years' close search in the well-known shales 

 and limestones of that island have been for the most part carefully 

 treasured in the Riks Museum at Stockholm, which thus becomes 

 in a sense the Mecca of those who, like the author of this paper, 

 devote themselves to the study of this group of fossils. 



The Grotland Crinoids have, of course, frequently engaged the 

 attention of the palaeontologists of Sweden and of other countries 

 as well. There is a reference to them in a mineralogical work 

 by Bromell, recognizing their real nature, as early as 1739 ; and 

 many papers by W. Hisinger, between the years 1799 and 1841, 

 contain descriptions and figures of several species, of which the 

 originals are still to be found in the Stockholm Museum. But 

 the all-important work on these Crinoids is the " Iconographia 

 Crinoideorum " of Professor N. P. Angelin, which was published 

 posthumously under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy 

 of Sciences in 1878. It is illustrated by 29 quarto plates, which 

 Angelin left behind at his death, already lithographed, whilst the 

 descriptive text in his own manuscript was edited for publication 

 by his former colleague, Prof. S. Loven, who undertook the Oystidea, 

 and by his successor. Prof. G. Lindstrom, who edited the main 

 portion relating to the Crinoids proper. The comprehensive sig- 

 nificance of Angelin's work may be understood from the fact that 

 it contained descriptions and figures of 178 species of Crinoids, 

 included in 42 genera, whereas, previous to its appearance, only 13 

 species, probably belonging to about 10 genera, were known from 

 Gotland. In the interval since the publication of the " Iconographia " 

 many important notices of the Gotland Crinoids have appeared at 

 different times from such authorities as Von Zittel, Neumayr, 

 Wachsmuth and Springer, P. H. Carpenter, F. A. Bather and others, 

 but these appear to have been mainly founded on the published 

 work of Angelin. A critical examination of this work and a com- 

 parison of its descriptions and figures with the original types in 

 the light of the knowledge of the present day, was felt to be an 

 absolute necessity to make it available for solving some of the crucial 

 questions of Crinoidal structure and classification, more particularly 

 in connection with British Silurian Crinoids ; and this induced Mr. 

 Batlier to undertake a revision of the type-forms of Angelin and 

 of such others as have been since discovered in Gotland. The 

 authorities of the Riks Museum at Stockholm, amongst whom may 

 be mentioned the well-known names of Professors S. Loven and 

 G. Lindstrom, deserve the heartiest thanks of their fellow-workers 

 in science for the facilities given to Mr. Bather to carry out his 

 work, and a similar recognition will be awarded to the Royal 

 Swedish Academy of Sciences for their truly liberal spirit in printing 

 the results of the investigation in their Transactions and in the 

 English language. 



In this first section of the work the author treats only of such of 

 the Gotland Crinoids as belong to the Order " Crinoidea Inadunata " 

 of Wachsmuth and Springer. These are considered to be the 



