FOSSIL FAUNA. 117 



PLATE XLIX. 



Remains of Encrinites. 



Fig. 1. A polislied slab of limestone formed of portions of the stems of encrinites ; the white 

 figures are produced by sections of the calcareous spar into which the ossicula ar® 

 transmuted. The dark spots are the cavities of the entrochites^ filled with mineral 

 matter of a different colour. 



Fig. 2, is the pentagonal base of the receptacle of the Derbyshire Encrinite. 



Fig. 3. A mass of Derbyshire encrinal marble, with numerous portions of stems lying in relief. 



The Derbyshire encrinal marble is so extensively employed in the manufacture of tables, 

 chimney-pieces, vases, &c., that it must be familiar to every reader ; and yet probably but few 

 are aware of its origin, or of the nature of the fossil remains of which it is composed, and that 

 give rise to the elegant figures in which its beauty consists. On Middleton Moor, near Matlock, 

 extensive quarries of this marble are worked, and good specimens of the ossicula and stems 

 may be easily obtained.' 



Fig. 4. Part of the stem of a large Encrinite, {^CyatJiocrinus rugosus, of Miller,) from the Wenlock 

 limestone, Dudley. 



Fig. 5. A fine specimen of the lower part of the stem, and the root-like processes of attachment 

 of the base, of the same species as fig. 4 : from Dudley. 



Fig. 6, is called the " Screw or Pulley-stone " of Derbyshire. These curious fossils are found 

 in the chert (a kind of flint) which occurs in veins and layers in some of the 

 limestone strata : they are siliceous casts of the interior cavities of the stems, and 

 small branches of ossicula, of Encrinites. Plate XL VII. fig. 10, is a detached 

 specimen of this kind. 



Fig. 7, is described by Mr. Pai-kinson as " a piece of marble from Shropshire, in which is 

 discovered a part of the pentagonal base of the Turban or Shropshire Encrinite." 



Fig. 8, is part of the column of the same species. These specimens belong to the Rose 

 Encrinite {Bhodocrimis verus, of Miller). 



Fig. 9. The receptacle of a very remarkable form of Encrinite, called by Mr. Parkinson " the 

 Cap Encrinite of Derbyshire." I can find no notice of this beautiful and unique 

 specimen in the work of Miller or of subsequent authors ; neither am I aware of any 

 data by which a relation can be estabhshed between this receptacle and the ossicula 

 and stems, so abundant in the carboniferous limestone of Derbyshire. 



' See Medals of Creation for " A Geological Excursion from Matlock to Middleton Moor, returning by Stonnis," p. 968. 



