222 Fossil Animalcule in the Primitive Rocks 
formation of iron oxyde. The sulphite, too, decomposing the 
lime of the encrinites and corals, destroys the colour and’ 
crystalline appearance of the rock. Thus rendered porous, 
it obtains a rough surface, and a brownish colour (imparted 
to it by the oxide of iron). The multitudes of very 
minute fossil remains which this rock contains, and which 
have been alluded to above, with a few exceptions, can 
be detected only by the aid of a powerful glass. Those 
which are of sufficient magnitude to be perceived by the 
naked eye are inhabitants of the deeper parts of the ocean; 
and,’ judging from their diminutive proportions, I should: 
suppose them to belong to the most primary era of organic 
life—the harbingers of those higher orders of existences . 
which, after the lapse of countless millions of ages, now 
people the altered surface of our planet. 
The forms which I have been able to recognise in these 
remains are :— 
Cyatocrinites (probably) pinnatus, (vide plate). This 
species, whose habitat is the tropical seas, belongs to the 
family Trochyten (Echinodermata). The animal manifestly 
attached itself to rocks and other solid bodies at a vast depth, 
beyond the influence of the turbulent waves which agitate 
the surface of the ocean. Not possessing the full power of 
locomotion, but capable only of swaying to and fro, lashed, 
as it were, to the rock, they depended on procuring prey by 
the motion of their long fringed arms, which also served as 
an additional means of security in retaining their immutable 
position. None of the remains under consideration are so 
perfectly distinct as to enable me to discover any signs of the 
caput, or of the roots of these remarkable animals. The 
trunk consists of a long jointed column, only small portions 
of which, about a quarter of an inch in length, are at all 
distinguishable. A hollow channel or central orifice passes 
longitudinally through this column; both the upper’ and 
lower surfaces of the joimts around it are replete with 
. dichotomous ribs. 
The rarity of the encrinite in the modern seas is a circum- 
stance of a very remarkable nature; when we consider the 
immense number of fossil species already discovered, and 
find whole masses of rock consisting of their relignia. At 
an earlier period of the existence of our planet, when a high 
degree of temperature favoured the propagation of beings, of 
which only rare analogies now obtain in the tropics, encrinites 
swarmed the ocean, and were the original cause of the depo- 
sition of the calcareous rocks. 
