2 UINTACRINUS: ITS STRUCTURE AND RELATIONS. 



knowledge on this side of the Atlantic. From certain peculiarities in 

 the base of some imperfect specimens which came into my possession^ I 

 was led to suspect that it might not always be of the form hitherto de- 

 scribed. With this question, among others, in view, I undertook to see if 

 further light could not be obtained by a careful examination of the region 

 in western Kansas from which the principal specimens had been derived. 

 In this I was fortunate enough to enlist the interest of Mr. Handel T. Martin, 

 a most intelligent and zealous collector, whose researches have brought to 

 light some of the finest specimens of saurians and birds from the prolific 

 Niobrara Chalk. To his keen eye and skillful hand I am indebted for 

 most valuable aids in the discovery and successful extraction of much of 

 the fine material which rewarded my search.^ 



DISCOVERY AND COLLECTION. 



The first specimen of Uintacrimis, too imperfect for description, how- 

 ever, was found in 1870 by Prof. 0. C Marsh in the Uintah Mountains, 

 in northeastern Utah.t In 1875 weathered specimens were discovered 

 by Prof. B. F. Mudge,J in Trigo County, Kansas, upon one of which 

 Grinnell § established the genus, and described the typical species, 

 Uintacrinus socialisy the specific name referring to the fact " that the indi- 

 viduals of this species lived together in large numbers." Both Marsh and 

 Grinnell allude to a resemblance of this new form to Marsupites of the 

 English Chalk. 



Some of Mudge's specimens were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and were described and figured, with his usual discriminating accuracy, 

 by F. B. Meek. || 



None of the foregoing specimens disclosed the nature of the base, which 

 remained unknown until the discovery of a specimen in the Marsupites 

 zone near Recklinghausen, in Westphalia, which was elaborately described 

 and figured by Professor Schlueter, in 1878, as U, westf aliens. ^ His descrip- 

 tion confirmed the opinions of Marsh, Grinnell, and Meek that this Crinoid 



* I feel much satisfaction in noting that Mr. Martin has since been appointed Assistant in Palseon- 

 tology in the Kansas University at Lawrence, whose rich Museum contains many of the finest specimens 

 discovered by him. 



f Am. Jour. Sci., March, 1871, p. 195. 



X Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. Territories, 1875, p. 284. 



§ Am. Jour. Sci., July, 1876, pp. 81-83. 



li Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv. Territories, II., 1876, pp. 375-378. 



IT Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geol. Gesel., XXX., pp. 55-63. 



