Had old Father Neptune decided to pick a bouquet of sea lilies for his wife, the lovely Amphitrite, he could have found them in abundance—on the floor of the sea where Eureka Springs now stands. According to the geologists, there were two periods, each millions of years long, and separated by millions of years, when this region was the bottom of the sea. The Ozark Mountains are the oldest range on the North American continent and were at one time higher than they are now. They rose from the sea, grew old and weathered to a mere plain, and then sank for a second inundation. During the millions of years that followed, which geologists call the Mississippian Period, a class of sea lilies, called Crinoids, lived in the warm waters of this vast sea. These Crinoids were fixed to the bottom of the sea, preferring a depth of about 150 fathoms. They were attached permanently, or temporarily, mouth upward, with a jointed stalk. At the top of the stem there was a muscular body that had both motor and sensory qualities. It lived upon minute protozoa and other animalcules, which it absorbed from the sea water. When the sea receded from the North American continent these Crinoids were preserved by nature’s chemistry. They were fossilized into the Boone Limestone. These fossils are found in abundance in the Ozarks, especially at Eureka Springs, and in Benton county near Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. Some of the stems held together and appear as screw-like formations in the rock. Sometimes they were broken up and the discs or segments of the stem are scattered through the rock strata. Two hundred seventy-five million years of the earth’s past lie buried in this Ozark limestone. I sometimes take tourists on hikes at Eureka Springs and one of my favorite trails is over East Mountain that rises abruptly from the valley floor of this famous stairstep town. Near Onyx Spring I point out the Crinoids in the rock strata which give mute evidence that this region was once the bottom of the sea. Some of these sea lily fossils are almost perfect, others are broken into fragments. One need not be a geologist, or even a student of geology, to observe and enjoy the rock formation of the Ozarks. The region is an open book and even he who runs may read and enjoy it.