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On Wednesday evening, December 28th, Mr. William 

 Swanston read a paper on the Echinodermata. He com- 

 menced by referring to the deep sea dredgings recently carried 

 on from her Majesty's ships Lightning and Porcupine, which 

 by the magnitude and importance of their results, made the 

 attempts of local naturalists seem insignificant by comparison 

 Nevertheless, dredging even from a small boat in our own bay 

 affords enjoyment of a high order, and may be made to yield 

 a very great amount of instruction. Much also remains to be 

 done before we can fairly claim to know fully the distribu- 

 tion of animal life, even in our own waters, and much 

 patient work is to be accomplished ere we understand 

 as we ought, the structure and habits of these creatures. 

 Ths echinoderms are separated from other animals by dis- 

 tinctive characters, which the reader pointed out. They are 

 divided into six orders, founded mainly on their organs of 

 locomotion. The first of these groups includes the creatures 

 popularly known as " feather stars ;" although now nearly 

 extinct, it was of the highest importance in past geological 

 epochs. In it were included the encrinites or " stone lilies" 

 of the Palaeozoic, and the pentacrinites and other allied forms 

 of the Mesozoic Seas. The marbles of Armagh show how 

 abundantly crinoids must have flourished in the Carboni- 

 ferous era; while in the blue clays of Islandmagee we find 

 the stems of the Pentacrinus in such profusion as proves 

 that even up to the Liassic period, they held an im- 

 portant position. The structure of the crinoids was then 

 explained. Though now nearly extinct, yet a representative 

 still lingers on our coasts. This is the " rosy feather star" 

 {Antedon rosaceon), distinguished by the gracefulness of its 

 structure and the exquisite colouring it displays while living. 

 The discovery so lately made by Drs. Carpenter and Thom- 

 son of splendid specimens of new genera of crinoids, which 

 live at great depths, may be said to be the crowning success 

 of a series of most brilliant discoveries. The examination of 



