218 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF ROME. 



[1854. 



is three or four times greater than their diameter. Towards the 

 cup the diameter, however, increases, the articulations approach one 

 another and become rings, and at length, when they reach the basal 

 plate and pass into it, this diameter is as much as one-third of the 

 whole diameter of the cup. 



" The base of the cup into which the stem passes is nearly a 

 perfect square, which may become changed into a rhomb, the 

 angles of which are blunted by compression of the entire form. 

 The basal plates are deeply depressed near where the stem is 

 attached." 



This description applies so nearly, that no other is necessary for 

 the base of the fossil now under examination. On looking at the 

 bottom, four sharp, straight ridges will be seen, forming a perfectly 

 square inclosure, round the opening into which the stem is inserted, 

 and upon one of the angles of this square the lesser diagonals of 

 the two basal rhombs are united. In Hchino-encrinites, however, 

 as described by Von Buch, and as is mentioned in the passage 

 from the Geology of Russia above quoted, it is the greatest diago- 

 nal of each rhomb that points to the corner of the square. 



It has been already stated that a deep groove passes over the 

 summit, and sends down branches to the extremities of the arms. 

 Exactly on the apex of the fossil, and in the bottom of this groove, 

 there is an elongated oval opening to the interior, one-eighth of an 

 inch in average length, and of the width of the groove. In this 

 aperture all the grooves of the arms terminate as in one common 

 centre. This is probably the mouth of the animal, and as afford- 

 ing an analogy in support of this view, it may be here observed 

 that with few, if any exceptions, the grooves on the under sides of 

 the rays of the star-fishes, the ambulacra of the sea-urchins, and 

 the pseudambulacra of the pentremites all terminate in the mouth. 

 In all the armless Cystidea?, the buccal orifice occupies the centre of 

 the apex, and in the four-armed species of Pseudocrinites, figured in 

 the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of England, this aperture is 

 placed in the same position in the central point from which the 

 arms radiate. The only other orifice on or near the top of the 

 fossil is a minute pore upon the left side, indistinctly visible to the 

 naked eye, which appears to be altogether too small to be con- 

 sidered the mouth, when we compare the great size of that organ 

 in JSchino-encrinites, as figured by Von Buch and Professor E. 

 Forbes. It appears probable that, in all those Cystidea with sul- 

 cated arms radiating from the summit, the mouth will be found 

 in the centre, where all the grooves meet. 



In well-preserved specimens, the groove across the summit is 

 filled with two rows of small oblong plates, which project upwards 

 and lean against each other above, but do not interlock. If the 

 apical orifice be the mouth, then, without doubt, these rows of plates 

 formed a peculiar valvular apparatus by which it was opened and 

 shut. They also fill the groove down to and past those points 

 where it branches into the arms ; and it is difficult to conceive 

 what their office coidd be here, unless to form a covered way for 

 certain vessels passing from the mouth to the extremities. 



Figs. 7 and 8 show this part of the fossil with and without those 



Fig. 7. 



Fig. 8. 



\S-£ 



c 



I hope to place in the Museum of the Canadian Institute during 

 the approaching season of navigation, when parcels of fossils can 

 be sent with safety. 



The ovarian aperture is in form like a spherical triangle, with 

 very obtusely- rounded angles, one of which usually forms the 

 lowest corner of this organ on the right side. It rests wholly 

 upon that plate of the second series which stands upon the hex- 

 agonal pelvic plate, a position somewhat different from that occu- 

 pied by it in the other allied genera of Cystidea, It is generally 

 supported by this plate and the next on the left in the same 

 series in the species heretofore made public. It is altogether in 

 the lower half of the body, its upper margin being about half 

 way between the summit and the base. I have found many 

 specimens of this fossil under such circumstances as to leave but 

 little doubt that it was unprovided with the valves by which the 

 ovarian aperture was opened and closed in several species. In 

 this respect it resembles also the Echino-encrirdtcs of Pulcowa, 

 so often referred to in this paper. Many of the European geolo- 

 gists are of the opinion that this latter had not an ovarian pyra- 

 mid, while others maintain an opposite view, supposing thai, in 

 being rolled about the bottom by the waves and currents after 

 death, the plates became detached, and thus they have never 

 been seen ; but in one locality I disinterred many specimens from 

 a bed of shale between two strata of limestone, where it was per- 

 fectly evident that they could not have suffered any other violence 

 than such pressure as might result from the accumulation of the 

 deposit above them. They had evidently lived and died in this 

 spot. The lower stratum of limestone was partly formed of their 

 plates and disjointed columns to the depth of an inch of its upper 

 surface, and it may be inferred from this circumstance that they 

 had flourished here for a great length of time undisturbed. In 

 the shale, which varied in thickness from one to three inches, 

 were imbedded a number of perfect specimens, some of t'nem 

 standing nearly upright, and with the pedicle apparently still 

 attached to the rock below. The delicate little tentacula on the 

 arms were preserved with all the plates still occupying the grooves. 

 It was easy to read with one glance the whole history of the catas- 

 trophe which fell upon them and occasioned their destruction. 

 They had been buried alive by a deposit showered down upon 

 them from a superficial current passing far above, while at the 

 bottom it was still water. If, after death, they had not been sub- 

 jected to a sufficient amount of violence to remove the tentacula, 

 it is highly probable that, had they been provided with ovarian 

 valves, these would also remain ; but in upwards of sixty speci- 

 mens discovered here and in other localities, not a trace of a 

 valve is to be seen. 



{To he continued?) 



Ekeata.— On page 215, for " A. Elegans," read " A. elegans," and for "H. Parasitica," 

 read " H. parasitica," 



Ott sonie Points connected ivitli tlic Early History of Rome* 



By the Rev. E. St. John Parry, 3I.A., Professor of Classics in the 

 University of Trinity College. 



plates, and I also forward herewith two specimens which are in 

 the same condition. There are other specimens in my possession 

 exhibiting these and other parts in greater perfection, some of which 



" Ancient History," it has been well said, " is the biography 

 of the dead, while Modern History is the biography of the living." 

 "And it must therefore necessarily follow," as the same author 

 says, " that Modern Histoiy must be especially interesting to 



* The following paper originally formed the substance of a Lecture 

 delivered before the Canadian Institute. It has subsequently undergone 

 some alteration and modification. The Author feels bound to acknow- 

 ledge the suggestions of Professor Wilson, whose view he has carefully 

 considered, although he still inclines to Niebuhr's Theory of the Etru- 

 rian race in preference to that of Dennis. 



