July 12, 1895.] 



.SCIENCE. 



41 



bably forbid tlie application of tliis test to 

 tlie case of the Teay Valley. Can any 

 other test be suggested ? 



W. M. Davis. 



Hakvaed XJniveksity. 



ZOOLOGICAL AZOTES. 

 A MONOGEAPH OP CRINOIDS.* 



The crinoids of the Paleozoic rocks of 

 North America are so rich and varied in 

 form, so numerous in individuals, that they 

 have long been the delight and the despair 

 of naturalists. Especially is this the case 

 with that order of the crinoids to which the 

 name Camerata is now generally applied, the 

 order that includes such well-known forms 

 as the ISTava Encrinite, Aetinoerinus, and the 

 Eose Encrinite, Mhodoerinus, which are 

 common enough in our own Mountain 

 Limestone, together with the flatter and 

 simpler form, Platycrinus. For, in America, 

 there are added to these ordinary genera 

 such remarkable creatures as the huge 

 Megistocrinus ; the speared and spined Dory- 

 crinus ; the peculiar mushroom-like Agarico- 

 crinus ; Strotocrinus, like a college don in his 

 mortar-board; Eretmocrinus, with its broad 

 oar-like arms ; Pterotocrinus, whose lofty 

 dome is surmounted by wings; Gilbertso- 

 crinus, with sti'ange drooping appendages of 

 unknown function, and Batocrinus, whose 

 pores at the bases of the arms are equally 

 mysterious. But this list does not include 

 a, quarter of the camerate or vaulted genera 

 known from the Carboniferous rocks of 

 America alone ; while, if we accept the 

 the work of Mr. S. A. Miller and kindred 

 spirits, the long line will stretch out to the 

 crack of doom. Such, indeed, is the variety 

 of form, and such the rashness of interpre- 

 tation of some of the more enthusiastic col- 

 lectors and describers, that to us European 

 students the subject has become one of in- 



* Reprinted from proofs for Natural Science contri- 

 ■buted by the Editor. 



extricable complexity. It is, therefore, 

 with peculiar pleasure that we learn an 

 authoritative monograph of these wonderful 

 and beaiitiful beings is shortly to be issued. 

 Since the year 1859, or thereby, Charles 

 Wachsmuth, who lives at Burlington, Iowa, 

 in the very heart of the crinoid country, 

 has devoted his life to the study of these 

 animals. A large collection which he made 

 was bought for the Museum at Cambridge, 

 Mass., by Professor Louis Agassiz, at whose 

 invitation Wachsmuth settled at the Uni- 

 versity to take charge of the whole collec- 

 tion of crinoids. The first-fruits of his study 

 were published in 1877. After a time 

 Wachsmuth returned to Burlington and 

 began to form a second collection ; much of 

 this he was, unfortunately for himself, forced 

 to part with, this time to the enrichment of 

 the British Museum, in whose galleries 

 some of his magnificent specimens are dis- 

 played. Association with Frank Springer 

 enabled him to continue his collection and 

 his studies, so that the series of fossil crin- 

 oidse made by the two friends is unrivalled 

 even by the great collections of London, 

 Harvard or Stockholm, and their ' Revision 

 of the Paleozoic Crinoids ' has long held 

 the front rank among all works on the sub- 

 ject. In their knowledge of the writings of 

 others, in their accurate discrimination of 

 generic and specific characters, and in their 

 important contributions to the morphology 

 of the crinoids, these gentlemen have shown 

 themselves most fitted to prepare that de- 

 sired necessity, a monograph of the fossil 

 crinoids of North America. The magnitude 

 of the task, the failing health of the elder 

 worker and the business cares of the 

 younger, have prevented the completion of 

 more than a portion, that, namely, which 

 deals with the Crinoidie Camerata. The 

 text of this portion alone will fill between 

 600 and 700 quarto pages, while no less 

 than eighty-three plates, of extreme beauty, 

 have been drawn by A. M. Westergren, J. 



