PART 5 A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRIXOIDS 223 



growth of summer visits and excursions of individuals and societies to seaside places 

 where the marine flora and fauna could be studied to best advantage. It was in the late 

 1830's and early 1840's that such visits had first become general, and they gradually- 

 tended to concentrate on certain areas. 



The general trend all over Europe is well illustrated by the work of Forbes, cover- 

 ing the coasts of the Irish Sea and northward, which was followed by that of Sir Wy\ ille 

 Thomson and Dr. W. B. Carpenter, centered mainly on the Isle of Arran, visited year 

 after year, and the marine excursions of the Birmingham Natural History Society 

 to the Torbay region. 



The first of the marine laboratories in Europe was that at Concarneau founded 

 by Prof. J. J. Coste in 1859. Although the rosy feather star is common there (Th. 

 Barrois, 18S2), no important work has ever been done on it, nor has its local distribu- 

 tion been determined in detail. 



In 18GG the movement was begun, largely through the efforts of Professors Bert 

 and Fischer, which resulted in the establishment of the laboratory at Arcachon, Gironde, 

 in 1883. Here again, though the rosy feather star occurs (Fischer, 1SS9), it has never 

 been the subject of extended investigations. 



The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 occurred just at the time when the movement 

 for the creation of permanent marine biological stations was at its height, and its de- 

 moralizing effect on the social structure of the time, not only in France but elsewhere, 

 served to delay matters for many years. At the outbreak of this war, Prof. Henri de 

 Lacaze-Duthiers had become greatly interested in the wonderful marine fauna in the 

 vicinity of Roscoff, and had prepared a detailed account of the occurrence of the feather 

 star in that district. In 1872 he established a temporary station there, which \vas 

 converted into a permanent one in 1876 and annexed to the Sorbonne in 1881. At no 

 biological station has more been done to elucidate the local distribution as well as the 

 anatomy and development of this species, and the papers based partly or entirely upon 

 material secured there are unusually numerous and important (Lacaze-Duthiers, 1869, 

 1879; Pcrrier, 1873, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889; Joliet, 1886; Cuenot, 1891, 1894; Pruvot, 

 1897). 



Two other French stations have contributed largely to our knowledge of this 

 species, that at Saint Vaast-la-Hougue, near Cherbourg (Cuenot, 1894; Malard, 1892, 

 1893), and that at Wimereux (Schaxel, 1911). 



In England the ISSO's witnessed the establishment of two biological stations which 

 are of especial importance in connection with the history of this species. Just as the 

 French station at Arcachon was the outcome of the International Exposition of Fish- 

 eries and Aquiculture held there in 1866, so the laboratory of the Marine Biological 

 Association at Plymouth was indirectly the outgrowth of the International Fisheries 

 Exhibition held in London in 1SS3. Mentioning only those who have published upon 

 the crinoids, we find in the original provisional council the names of Thomas H. Hiixl-v, 

 Sir E. Ray Lankester, A. M. Marshall, Adam Sedgwick, W. Percy Sladen, A. M. Nor- 

 man, and Sir John Murray. 



The information on this species resulting from work done at this station since its 

 formal establishment in 1887 has been of the greatest importance. The local distri- 

 bution and the data concerning the breeding season have been worked out in gi-e.-ii 

 detail by Messrs. W. Heape (1888), W. L. Calderwood (1889), Walter Garstang (1892, 

 1894), J. C. Stunner (1895), R. A. Todd (1897), G. C. Bourne, J. T. Cunningham, 



