
47 
The FossiL Remains of this” species occur in the lyas near Bristol, at 
Keynsham, Hengrove, &c. 
Description. 
Through the favour of Wm. CLAYFIELD, Esq. I have been enabled to èx- 
amine the fine specimen once in the possession of the late JAMES (not JOHN as 
stated erroneously page 11.) Tosın, Esq. In the drawing it up from the bot- 
tom of the sea near the Island of Nevis, in the West Indies, the animal has 
clearly been broken off, leaving its posterior portion behind ; thus we have lost 
the chance of ascertaining the fact, whether it adhered by a fixed base or had a 
locomotive power. The same accident has befallen the other recent individuals 
that have been mentioned when speaking of the locality of this species. How- ` 
ever, judging from its analogy to the encrinus moniliformis, from its long 
column, numerous auxiliary side arms, and the associated manner in which 
` groups of the following species are sometimes found preserved on the surface of 
a single slab, with the columns all tending towards the same point, as if issuing 
from a common base, I conceive that this species also adhered by a base to.ex= 
traneous matter. This idea gains some further ground, from all the recent. 
specimens hitherto found having broken abruptly off in the endeavour to re- 
move them, as not being able to free themselves from the points of adhesion, 
which certainly would have been the case, had the animal possessed a loco- 
motive power. This inference acquires additional confirmation from the ob- 
servations made by the late J. Togın, Esq. on another specimen, viz.— Some 
“ years ago I was in possession of a larger pentacrinite, which was brought. to 
“ me so fresh out of the sea that at the bottom (where it plainly appeared to 
* have been broken off from the rock to which it was fixed) the blood* was 
“ actually oozing from the vertebra. This specimen I endeavoured to pre- 
“ serve, but it was El y destr oyed by the ants, who eat every cartilage, so that 
** it fell to pieces.” 
l cannot admit the ና tan of WALCH, that the pentacrinite i is an mal 
crawling along the bottom of the sea ; but conceive it to have generally stood : 
more or less erect in its watery element, yielding to the fury of the storm by 
bending down, and adhering for additional security with its side arms to ex- 
traneous matter, or closing them to the column, and thus offering the least sur- 
face possible to the element. The latter is the most probable idea, since Í have 
* The fluid in the alimentary canal, 
