182 
CRINOIDS. 
Aug., 1891. 
those crinoids which have lost their arms, and thus show a 
quinquepartite radiate structure, has been equally fortunate in 
escaping the perils of early scientific nomenclature, though it 
is now applied to those crinoids which have a five-sided, as 
distinguished from a cylindrical, stem. 
In 1669, Lachmund, in his “ Oryctographia Hildesheim- 
ensis,” published the first figure of a crinoid ( Encrinus lilii- 
formis), and was also the first naturalist who referred the stem 
and the detached ossicles of the stem to the same fossil as the 
calyx. 
In 1678, M. Lister published in the Phil. Trans, of the 
Royal Society* the first illustrations of palaeozoic crinoids, 
but, following the idea of his predecessors as to their vegetable 
nature, he fell into the amusing error of turning them upside 
down, and taking their arms to be roots. 
Though many authors described fossil crinoids during the 
following half century, no nearer approach to their true nature 
was arrived at, the majority considering them petrified flowers 
or fruits, while a few supposed the stems to be the vertebrae of 
fishes. 
In 1719, however, appeared a Latin work by M. R. 
Rosinus,t in which, for the first time, the animality of crinoids 
was demonstrated, and also their relation to starfishes. This 
work, therefore, marks an important epoch in the history of 
crinoids, and is further remarkable from the fact that it was 
not until thirty-six years afterwards that the first living 
crinoid ( Pentacrinus caput-Medusce ) was discovered. Rosinus 
also confirmed the assertion of Lachmund that the detached 
ossicles of the stem belonged to the same class of animals. 
In 1761, Guettard published, in the Memoirs of the 
Academy of Science of Paris, a paper bearing the date of 
1755, in which he describes the first specimen of a recent 
crinoid which has been recorded ( Pentacrinus caput-Medusa). 
This specimen had been found at Martinique, in the West 
Indies, and is described under the name it had received on 
being found, that of Palmier mar in , or sea palm. Guettard 
established the relation of this species with the fossil Penta- 
crini. 
The proper position of the crinoids in the animal kingdom, 
* “ A description of certain stones figured like plants, and by some 
observing men esteemed to be plants petrified.” Phil. Trans., vol. vii., 
p. 6181. 
t “ Tentaminis de lithozois ac lithophytis olim marinis, jam vero 
subterraneis, prodromus : sive de stellis marinis quondam, nunc fossil- 
ibus, disquisitio.” Hamb. 1719. 
