On some new or little-known Jurassic Crinoids

Abstract

The fine collection of Oolitic fossils which was made by the late Mr. William Walton, of Bath, and was purchased some years ago by the University of Cambridge, contains a very remarkable series of specimens of a Crinoid from the Great oolite of Lansdown, a well-known hill at Bath. Its occurrence seems to have been first recorded (though not first noted) in the year 1828 by the late Dr. J.E. Gray, who made a curious error with regard to this geological horizon, stating it to have been found in the Lias. He named the type Apiocrinites Prattii , and described it as intermediate in character between the A. ellipticus and A. rotundus of Miller. Some years after the publication (1821) of the well-known work on Crinoids by the last-named author, some specimens of this species were shown to him by the Rev. H. Jelly, who states that Miller “was unable to satisfy his own mind as to their true nature and history.” in the year 1833 a semipopular illustrated account of these fossils was published by Mr. Jelly, and about the same time they were redescribed by Goldfuss, with the aid of some excellent figures, under the name of A. obconicus . he had, however , smaller series of specimens than those at Jelly's disposal, some of which now form part of the Walton collection; and the great peculiarity of the type, viz. the very variable length of the stem, which had been previously noted by Jelly, did not attract his attention.