116 F. A. Bather — On Apiocrinus from the Muschelhalk. 



in the alteration of a mucb crushed serpentine, or the third remove, 

 at least, from a peridotite^ ; and the presence of nickel as a silicate 

 suggests that in all probability minerals allied to genthite not 

 unfrequently occur in the Alpine serpentines- — and, it may be, in 

 others. Comparison of the ovenstone and of the varieties of 

 serpentine from this and other parts of the Alps with the ordinary 

 green-schist, prove them and it to be such distinct rocks that they 

 must be independent in origin. 



V. — Apiocrinus recubariensis, Ckkma, from the Muschblkalk, 



IS A Primitive Millericrinus. 



By F. A. Bather, M.A., 



Assistant in the British Museum (Natural History). 



LAST autumn Dr. Camillo Crema, of Turin, civil engineer, favoured 

 me with a reprint of " Addizioni agli Echiuodermi del Muachel- 

 kalk di Recoaro," a paper published on October 4, 1896, in Atti del 

 B. 1st. Veneto, ser. 7, vol. vii, pp. 854-61, with plate ii. The 

 Echinoderms described are in the Eoyal Geological Museum of 

 Turin, and were found in the Lower Muschelkalk near Rovegliana, 

 east of Eecoaro, in the Vicentin Alps ; a section of the Trias in this 

 district will be found in K. W. von Giinibel's " Geologic von 

 Bayern," Dritte Lieferung, p. 679, 1886. Two species are added, 

 under the names of " Aspidiira italica, n.sp." and "Apiocrinus 

 recubariensis, n.sp." Two crowns of Dadocrinus gracilis, though 

 previousl}'^ known fi'om this horizon and locality, are also figured on 

 account of their good state of preservation. 



With regard to the " Apiocrinus," Dr. Crema, in his paper, does 

 not "absolutely exclude the chance that it may turn out to be 

 a Millericrinus,'" since the differences between Apiocrinus and 

 Millericrinus ai'e, in his opinion, of such a nature that they cannot 

 be distinguished in this specimen. "However this may be," the 

 determination assumes importance from the fact that " neither of 

 these two genera has hitherto been observed in terranes anterior to 

 the Lias." Dr. Crema's figure and description, however, did not 

 satisfy me as to the correctness of his generic determination, so that 

 I at once communicated my doubts to him, and asked to be favoured 

 with a cast of the fossil. For reply I received the loan of the 

 unique specimen itself, an act of courtesy for which my warmest 

 thanks are due, not only to Dr. Crema, but to Professor C. F. Parona, 

 Director of the Geological Museum of Turin. 



The minute crinoid showed that the description and figure of 

 Dr. Crema were as accurate as the state of the fossil permitted, 

 and that his inferences were very natural ones if nothing more. 

 The additional details now submitted, and the slightly different 

 conclusions of the present paper, have been rendered possible by 

 the further development of the specimen, a task of many days. 



1 Geol. Mag., December, 1890, p. 540. 



- I do uot see much hope of identifying them under the microscope, for the 

 noumeite shows no definite characters. 



