226 



RADIATES! ECHIN0DERM3. 



CRINOIDS. 



The word Crinoid means lily'like in form, and is 

 given to a large number of echinoderms on account 

 of their lily-like or plant-like appearance. Only a 

 small niimber of these animals is now living, and 

 of the few living ones only one kind has a stem in 

 the adult state, and this is the Pentaerinus capuUne- 

 dusm, of the West Indies, Figure 471. With the ex- 

 ception of this one, the living Crinoids much resemble 



Fig, 471. — Living Crinoid. 



the Star-Fislies and Ophiurans ; but in the rocks, in 

 various parts of the United States and in other coun- 

 tries, the stemmed kinds are exceedingly abundant, 

 showing us that these animals lived in profusion in 

 the old ocean which ages ngo covered a large part 



