274 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
that epoch, the Crino'idee, which we know hy the name of stone-lilies 
and which characterises the Muschelkalh rocks, have keen known under 
the name of Enchrinus, from rcplvov, a lily. 
During the eighteenth century the works upon the Crino'idse were 
very numerous, though not very correct. They sometimes reported 
these organic remains to he vegetable ; sometimes they were beings 
allied to the star-fishes; ft* 
others they were the vertebral 
column of fishes. Towards the 
year 1761, however, Guettard, 
one of the most learned natur- 
alists of his time, understood 
the real nature of these pro- 
ductions. He had occasion to 
examine a recent Enchrinus 
sent from Martinique under 
the name of Sea-Palm, which 
was in reality Pentacrin 1 ^ 1 
caput Medusa; . The com- 
parison of the living individual 
with the fossil fragment de- 
scribed hy his predecessors, ft® 
of which lie had specimen 9 
in his collections, enabled hu® 
to ascertain the real orig 111 
of the fossil Enchrinoidu 1 - 
The beautiful fragment which 
still exists in the Museum 0 
Natural History at Paris h» 9 
long been considered uniq® e ’ 
but it is now known th» 
others exist in different m® 
Since that date th® 
seums. 
Fig. 107. Pentacrinus caput Medusae (Muller). 
Crinoidse have been exami® 6 
and described by observers 6° c 
as Miller, Forbes, D’Orbig®?’ 
and Pictet, of whose discoveries the following is a brief resume : 
“ The species of fixed Crinoidse actually living are Pentacrinus cap 1 
