pelmatozoa

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In Leuckart's classification (1848), the first class of Echinodermata, distinguished form Actinozoa (sea-urchins and starfishes), and form Scytodermata (holothurians and spoonworms), and divied into the two orders Cystidea and crinoidea. The term is now used for all the crinoids or stalked echinoderms, divided into Crinoidea, Cystoidea, and Blastoidea. Same as Crinoidea in an enlarged sense.