512 FOSSIL INVERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



not divided at the base- — which is composed of an assemblage 

 of small and smooth pannels. 



In one of the ancient strata of the environs of Nevers is found 

 a stem, which is composed of small articulations of a rhom- 

 boidal form. They are changed into calcareous spath, and 

 pierced with a small hole in the direction of their axes. In 

 the collection of M. de France is a specimen of this stem^ 

 almost as thick as one's fist, which is absolutely composed 

 of nothing but those little articulations. Some stems have also 

 been found of the same form. There is reason to believe that 

 these stems and articulations belonged to a species of encrinus 

 whose entire form is not yet known. 



Parkinson has figured a body, which he has called encrinites 

 testudinarius . This ovoid body, of the thickness of a large 

 nut, appears to have been adherent at its base ; and is com- 

 posed of slender pieces, irregularly pentagonal, of five or 

 six lines in diameter, which rest one against the other, and 

 form a kind of roof: similar ones are found at Valognes, in the 

 department of La Manche. They are somewhat convex on 

 one side; the concave side is smooth : the convex side is fur- 

 rowed with strongly-marked striae, some of which proceed from 

 the centre, and others originate from these last and proceed to 

 the edges. 



In the same strata is found a body which may belong to the 

 genus or family of encrinus. It is often of an irregular hexa- 

 gonal form : its breadth is six or seven lines, and its thickness 

 three lines. One of the sides, which may be called the under 

 side, is smooth ; the other presents a centre, from which pro- 

 ceed from ten to fourteen articulated arms, which go down and 

 appear fixed underneath. 



Some handsome specimens, from North America, of bodies 

 found in Genesee, may perhaps be referred to this family. 

 They are about the size and form of a large nut. At their base 

 may be seen traces of a stem on which they must have been 



