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includes Flustrella binder i HarveyM and F. hispida var. cylindrica Hincks 3 ). From these two 

 species 8 ) E. blainvillii differs in the absence of spines. 



Verrucularia dichotoma was originally found at Algoa Bay and was described as an 

 Alga bv v. Sihr: and there has been considerable doubt with regard to its systematic position. 

 Busk (1861) referred it and Flustrella binderij with some hesitation, to the Cheilostome genus 

 Farciminaria\ but later (1884) he accepted v. Suhr's genus, which he placed in the Farcimi- 

 nariidae. Hincks (1884) gave reasons, which he maintained in his later account (1893), for 

 considering V. dichotoma a species of Flustrella, in opposition to the opinion of Busk and 

 MacGillivray (1887, 1890). In placing it in the Flustrellidae I agree with Hincks ; and after 

 examining the species above mentioned, it seems to me that the structure of the orifice 

 corresponds closely with that of the common European F. hispida. 



Goldstein *) has suggested that Farciminaria may be a synonym of Elzerina, but if 

 Lamouröux' species is the one here considered, this opinion cannot be maintained. In the original 

 account of E. blainvillii the "substance" of the colony is described as being "presque membra- 

 neuse"; — suggesting an absence of calcification. The specimens are said, moreover, to have 

 been found on sea-weeds from Timor and Australasia; and their occurrence in the Malay 

 Archipelago is a reason for referring the Torres Straits specimen to the same species. 



It may be noted that Flustrella flabellaria Kirkpatrick '), from the China Sea, appears 

 to be a Pkerusa, so far as I can ascertain from a figure given by that author and from the 

 mounted slide (89.8.21. 128) in the British Museum. 



A few words may be added with regard to the unfortunate results of attempting to 

 apply the Law of Priority strictly to a group like the Polyzoa, in which the earlier names 

 cannot always be identified with certainty. The familiar and universally employed generic name 

 Flustrella Gray, 1848, is antedated by Flustrella Ehrenberg ü ), 1839. Ehrenberg's name was 

 introduced for a Cretaceous species, Flustrella concentrica, a member of a Family Asterodiscina, 

 where it is associated with Luuulites and Cupularia, two genera of Selenariiform Polyzoa, and 

 with Orbitulites, one of the Foraminifera. On p. 132 of Ehrenberg's work, E. concentrica is 

 defined as "microscopica cellularum minutissimarum laevium seriebus concentricis, interdum spira- 

 "libus, apertura singularum parva rotunda". In the 'Tabellarische Charakteristik d. Bryozoen- 

 Classe' following p. 120, the words "forma indeterminata plana (libera)" appear to indicate that 

 Flustrella was introduced for a Selenariiform Polyzoon ; but, so far as I am aware, Ehrenberg's 

 genus has not been recognised by later writers. Gray 's name has in fact held the field for 66 

 years, and the Family Flustrellidae, based on it, has also come into universal use. I venture 

 to think that this is a case in which the Law of Priority should be ignored 7 ). 



1) Cf. Busk, 1861, Quart. J. Mier. Sci. (N. S.) I, p. 156. 



2) Hincks, T., 1884, Ann. Mag. Nat. Mist. (5) XIII, p. 365: see P. H. MacGiu.ivkay, 1887, Trans. R. Soc. Vict., XXIII, p. 220. 



3) Echintlla placoides Korotneff (Biolog. Centralbl. XXI, 1901, p. 311), a spinous form from Lake Baikal, may possibly belong 

 to the same assemblage. ANNANDALE ("Fauna Brit. Intl.", " 1'. W. Sponges . . . and Pol.", 191 1, pp. 199, 202) regards it, perhaps rightly, 



synonym of Hislopia. 



4) Goi.dstein, J. R. V., 1882, "New Species Bry. Marion Islands", Trans. R. Soc. Vict., XVIII, p. 44, note. 



5) Kirkpatrick, R., 1890', p. 23, PI. IV, figs 3, 3«. 



6) EHRENBERG, C. G., 1839, "Üb. d. Bildung d. Kreidefelsen", Phys. Abh. k. Akad. Wiss. Beilin, A. d. Jahre 1838, p. 132 and Tab. I. 



7) Flustrella D'Orbigny, 1850 — 1852, p. 2S2, is a third introduction of this generic name. 



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