NEW AGELACRINITES * 183 



obscure agelacrinite, fuller reference to the structure and strati- 

 graphic position of which will be made, and which will now be 

 termed A. butt si. Prof. Beecher of New Haven has kindly 

 called my attention to a specimen of this species obtained by him 

 from approximately the same horizon in the rock section at War- 

 ren Pa., and has also placed in my hands for study a new species 

 from a higher horizon in the early Carbonic strata at the same 

 place. This we refer to as A. b e e c h e r i. 



The fauna of the Chemung beds is one of constant surprises, 

 and in its arenaceous deposits, in places crowded with long 

 known brachiopods, lamellibranchs, etc. it is the unexpected that 

 happens to the persistent searcher. The vast amount of 

 material brought in from these rocks for the study of the fauna 

 of the period as described in the various volumes of the Paleon- 

 tology of New York produced none of these agelacrinites, nor of 

 the remarkable phyllocarid crustaceans described by Prof. 

 Beecher and by the writer, of the limuloid described by Prof. 

 H. S. Williams, nor of the starfishes recently obtained by the 

 collectors of this department for the state museum, and but very 

 few of the hexactinellid sponges of which the late Prof. Hall and 

 the writer have described 70 species. This fauna should appeal 

 to collector-students, who may be blessed at any turn therein 

 with paleontologic surprise and gratification. 



That the agelacrinites under special consideration were not 

 after all extremely rare members of the Chemung fauna, is testi- 

 fied by a slab bearing 13 impressions, now the property of Mr 

 LaForge, the finder. One slab owned by the museum bears 

 seven individuals exposing the oral surface, and another nine 

 with aboral exposure. 



In studying these organisms, which their novel relation to our 

 ancient fauna and their interesting biologic character entitle to 

 description and illustration, a comedy of errors in the nomen- 

 clature and determination of its allies among the Agelacrinitidae 

 reveals itself. If, therefore, these bodies prove a means to 

 unsnarl the tangle of names into which American paleontologists 

 with the aid of their British and German brethren have plunged 



