Among the Echinoderms, _Cidaris glandiferus_, _Apiocrinus Roissyanus_,
and _A. rotundus_, the graceful _Saccocoma pectinata_, _Millericrinus
nodotianus_, _Comatula costata_, and _Hemicidaris crenularis_ may be
mentioned; _Apiocrinites rotundus_, figured in PLATE XIX., is a reduced
restoration: 1, being expanded; _a_, closed; 3, a cross section of
the upper extremity of the pear-shaped head; 4, a vertical section
showing the enlargement of the alimentary canal, with the hollow
lenticular spaces which descend through the axis of the column, forming
the joints, and giving elasticity and flexure to the whole stem, without
risk of dislocation. _A. rotundus_ is found at Bradford in Wiltshire,
Abbotsbury in Dorset, at Soissons, and Rochelle. This species--known as
the Bradford Pear-Encrinite--is only found in the strata mentioned.
[Illustration: XIX.--Fig. 1.--Apiocrinites rotundus. Fig. 2.--Encrinus
liliiformis.]
The Corals of this epoch occur in great abundance. We have already
remarked that these aggregations of Polyps are often met with at a great
depth in the strata. These small calcareous structures have been formed
in the ancient seas, and the same phenomenon is extending the
terrestrial surface in our days in the seas of Oceania, where reefs and
atolls of coral are rising by slow and imperceptible steps, but with no
less certainty. Although their mode of production must always remain to
some extent a mystery, the investigations of M. Lamaroux, Mr. Charles
Darwin, and M. D’Orbigny have gone a long way towards explaining their
operations; for the Zoophyte in action is an aggregation of these minute
Polyps. Describing what he believes to be a sea-pen, a Zoophyte allied
to _Virgularia Patagonia_, Mr. Darwin says: “It consists of a thin,
straight, fleshy stem, with alternate rows of polypi on each side, and
surrounding an elastic stony axis. The stem at one extremity is
truncate, but at the other is terminated by a vermiform fleshy
appendage. The stony axis which gives strength to the stem, may be
traced at this extremity into a mere vessel filled with granular matter.
At low water hundreds of these zoophytes might be seen, projecting like
stubble, with the truncate end upwards, a few inches above the surface
of the muddy sand. When touched or pulled, they drew themselves in
suddenly, with force, so as nearly or quite to disappear. By this
action, the highly-elastic axis must be bent at the lower extremity,
where it is naturally slightly curved; and I imagine it is by this
elasticity alone that the zoophyte is enabled to rise again through the
mud. Each polypus, though closely united to its brethren, has a distinct
mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen there
must be many thousands. Yet we see that they act by one movement; that
they have one central axis, connected with a system of obscure
circulation.” Such is the brief account given by a very acute observer
of these singular beings.
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