marsupite

noun

1. A fossil crinoid of the genus Marsupites, resembling a purse.

   “The most remarkable fossil of this class is the marsupite, which I have thus named from its resemblance, when closed, to a purse. The marsupite (Tab. 51) was a molluscous animal, of a sub-ovate form, having the mouth, which was surrounded by arms, or tentacula, in the centre.”

   “The crinoideans are sparingly distributed in the cretaceous group; the most remarkable is the marsupite, which appears to have been an unattached crinoidean.”

   “The plates of the head are thin and broad, and marked on their outer surface by lines of growth, and radiating ridges resembling the plates of the marsupite.”