James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1James, Edwin
History
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1
James, Edwin
Indians of North America; Rocky Mountains; United States -- Discovery and exploration; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
The plate-like form of the ossiculæ, and their mode of
articulation with each other, by an extension horizontally
inwards, as we have described above, in the case of those
plates which we have considered as the _second costals_, seem
to indicate, that this species ought to be referred to the
second division of the crinoidea, or _semiarticulata_ of
Miller. It certainly, however, cannot be at all referred to
poteriocrinites, the only genus which that author has framed
in this division of the family. We refrain from distinguishing
it by a name either generic or specific, until other specimens
can be obtained, in which the characters are less equivocal.
We have two _second costal plates_, which made part of
distinct individuals, larger than the above described one. Of
these the surface of one is perfectly glabrous, whilst that of
the other has light orbicular indentations instead of
tubercles; a third very small one is perfectly smooth like the
first, and doubtless formed part of the body of a young
individual.
Another plate found near the same spot with the above, is of a
somewhat triangular form exteriorly, or rather like the face
of a truncated pyramid, of which the middle of the summit is a
little produced in the form of a right angle, thus offering a
scollop on each side of the apex for the adaptation of
superior ossiculæ. On divesting it carefully of its extraneous
matrix, we discovered that it was readily adjusted by its base
to the summit of those segments of the fragment above
described, which we have supposed to be _second costals_, a
prominent line on its base corresponding with the inner one of
those grooves which we have described, to characterize the
superior face of those plates. This plate, then, agreeably to
the relations in which we have viewed the preceding pieces,
must be a _scapula_; it is susceptible of considerable
hinge-like motion, and appears to have been much less firmly
attached to the costals than the latter are to each other.
A segment of a crinoid animal, which seemed to have been a
_first costal joint_ of a _pentacrinus_ of Parkinson, occurred
near the same place.
22. _Productus pectinoides_, SAY.--Convex valve, with a
central longitudinal indentation; the whole surface is
longitudinally ribbed, each rib being marked by two striæ, in
addition to the central carina.
The shell is not of frequent occurrence, and a perfect
specimen has not yet been obtained, but the portions we have
examined, are sufficient to show that it is perfectly distinct
from either of the species we have mentioned. We do not find
any species figured or described by authors like it.
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