110 
ENCRINITES. 
The pelvis, which contained the viscera of the 
animal, is surrounded by long jointed arms or ten- 
tacula, and affixed to the vertebral column by a 
pentagonal plate placed in the centre of the base. 
The column, in most species, is of an immense 
length, and consists of separate joints or vertebrae, 
regularly united, pierced in the centre, and having 
their articulating surfaces ornamented with radi- 
ating, stellular, or floriform markings. The in- 
ferior part of the column has a pedicle, or process 
of attachment, by which the animal was fixed to 
the rock.* * 
In the recent state, the skeleton was in all pro- 
bability clothed with a fleshy or coriaceous inte- 
gument ; the central perforation in the vertebral 
column is supposed by Mr. Martin to have been 
filled with a medullary substance, by which sens- 
ation was conveyed to the inferior extremities of 
theanimalf; according to Mr. Miller, it served as 
an alimentary canal t ; the former is the most pro- 
bable supposition. 
The detached vertebrae are known to collectors 
by the name of trochitcB ; and when several are 
tinct bones, and the Briaraean pentacrinite must have possessed double 
or treble that number ; in fact, the zoophytes of this order must have 
more ossicula or bones in their skeletons, than any other animals. — 
Org. Rem. vol. ii. p. 181. 
* For a more particular account of the natural history of this e.\tra- 
ordinary tribe of animals, consult the 2d vol. of Parkinson’s Organic 
Remains, and Miller’s Natural History of the Crinoidea, or Lily-shaped 
Animals; 1 vol. 4to. 1821; a work that has been justly characterised 
by an eminent writer, as “ a model of patient, sagacious, and successful 
research.” 
j- Martin’s Syst. Arrangement, p. 209. 
i Miller’s Crinoidea, p. II. 
