1086 Marvels of the Universe 
beautifully perfect fossil was found is the brown sandy mudstone of Brunswick, a suburb of 
Melbourne. Many eons ago, in the older stage of the Silurian period, the locality was occupied by 
a wide shallow sea, in which these animals flourished, together with numerous extinct types of 
shell-fish. Along the mud-flats and sandy shores of that epoch various strange forms, like large 
wood-lice (trilobites) crawled, 
and numerous  pod-shrimps 
leaped about amid the shal- 
lows, chasing other smaller fry. 
There were no true fishes in 
those days, for even the sharks 
had not then made their ap- 
pearance. 
The MHelicocrinus, as the 
present fossil is named, consists 
of a cup-like body surmounted 
by five branched arms, beset 
with tiny jointed pinnules or 
filaments, by the waving of 
which currents were caused 
and food brought into the 
mouth which they surrounded. 
The body is mounted on a long, 
jointed and once flexible stalk, 
the lower end of which ter- 
minates in a coil, which was 
probably used for the purpose 
of twining itself round the stalk 
of a sea-weed or other rooted 
object. This unique specimen 
is in the collection of the 
National Museum at Mel- 
bourne. 
LUMINOUS METEORS 
BY G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S. 
From time to time, usually at 
night, but not invariably so, 
certain luminous objects sud- 
denly appear in the sky, which 
are popularly known as 
stich TiN dey mate fendi) aco fomxl fa dhe adtMtomdion’ of Melb  SmooulNy Stas” (re ~ ial 
mustralias ing Stars’), or they may be 
‘ Fire-balls,” or else ‘‘ Thunderbolts.’”’ These objects bear astronomically the generic title of 
“Luminous Meteors.” They differ very much in size, in frequency and in appearance; but for 
astronomical purposes all come under the family name of “ Luminous Meteors.” 
The most familiar of them is the ‘‘ Shooting Star,’ and I will start with that as a point of 
departure to lead up to the others. Though often recorded in ancient times, Shooting Stars were 
only regarded as casual manifestations of some unknown forces of Nature, and not subject to any 
Photo by] ([f. Chapman, ALS. 
“STONE-LILY.” 
A beautiful example of a type of Feather-star that flourished in the Silurian 
