| Abstract: | The “rhizoidsrdquo; surrounding the base of the erect “colony” emanating from the ancestrula in the Crisiidae, especially the simple species Crisidia cornuta (L.), are a regular adnate system of autozooids. Each autozooid is composed of a proximal adnate part and a distal peristome (in some species kenozooids are possibly intercalated). The autozooid peristomes support erect branches identical in budding and structure with the branch emanating from the erect peristome of the ancestrula. Thus, the complete crisiid colony consists of an adnate system of ancestrula and autozooids, which form erect branches from their peristomes. The adnate zooid system is comparable in autozooid morphology and budding pattern with simple uniserial stomatoporids. The tentative hypothesis is proposed that the crisiid group has developed from primitive stomatoporids; the adnate zooid system of the stomatoporids apparently evolved peristomial budding to produce the erect colony branches characteristic of crisiids. |
