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brought up. I wish particularly to draw attention to one form, 
of which 70 were found: it is a stalked star fish, a crinoid with 
a delicate thread-like stem, three or four inches long, and a 
head having much the appearance of the Pentacrinoid larval 
stage of a feather star, which is common off the Norwegian 
coast. But a more detailed examination disclosed facts of vast 
interest. It was found not to he a larval hut a mature crinoid, 
and belonging to a totally distinct family of the order hitherto 
only known fossil, and supposed to be almost entirely confined 
to the mesozoic series of beds. This crinoid was named by its 
discoverer Rhizocrinus Lofotensis. It belongs to the family 
Apiocrinidse, from the typical Apiocrinus knowm as the Pear 
Encrinite, which obtained its maximum development at the great 
Oolite period, and is not represented in earlier European beds, 
although specimens are found well developed in the continental 
Jurassic strata. Passing upwards in the geological series, 
there are found in the lower beds of the cretaceous system, 
two or three somewhat obscure forms, while in the white chalk 
the family is, I believe, represented by only a single species of a 
single genus Bourgueticrinus (Apiocrinites ?) Ellipticiis, giving 
indications of a degradation in the animal scale, by reduction 
in size and development of the arms, increased branching of 
the stem, and irregular multiplication of the joints. Following 
the family higher to the Tertiary formations, only one or two 
small forms of the group are found to be present. The R. 
Lofotensis is smaller than the chalk fossil, the stem is large in 
proportion to the cup, and special organs of nutrition, and here 
alone among known crinoids, characters of marked degradation 
are met with, evidenced by the irregularity of the number of 
arms, of which there are four, five, and sometimes even six. 
In fact this crinoid, the R. Lofotensis, stands nearly in the 
same relation to Bourgueticrinus that the latter does to the 
Apiocrinites of the Oolite. 
The Rhizocrinus has been dredged by Dr. Carpenter off 
the North of Scotland, and has also been obtained off the 
coast of Florida. The interest connected with this special 
crinoid must be taken in connection with the circumstances 
of development just mentioned, for it may be remarked that 
