1898] PENTACRINUS : A NAME AND ITS HISTORY 255 



Linnaeus, 1766; Encrinus, pars, Lamarck, 1801 and 

 1816, Blumenbach, 1779-1807 ; Pentacrinus, pars, J. S. 

 Miller, 1821 ; Pentacrinus, T. and T. Austin, 1847, P. H. 

 Carpenter, 1884; Cainocrinus, Forbes, 1852; Picteticrinus, de 

 Loriol, 1875 ; Cenocrinus and iVeocrmws, W. Thomson, 1864. 



These conclusions will not be agreeable to those who follow 

 P. H. Carpenter in driving a coach-and-six through the rules of 

 nomenclature, a pastime in which my regretted friend too often 

 indulged. But they will please those palaeontologists who, with 

 the eminent Von Zittel, still call the fossils of Wlirtemberg and 

 Dorset by the name Pentacrinus, a name that has been theirs for 

 three centuries and a half, in the possession of which they were 

 legally confirmed by the illustrious Blumenbach, to whose action 

 Eichwald (1829) is a trustworthy contemporary witness. 



With the necessity for some such step I have long been 

 acquainted, but the accumulation of the requisite literature has 

 been a slow process. The general neglect of ancient writers, due 

 partly to the apotheosis of Linnaeus, partly, as Sir Archibald Geikie 

 puts it, to the engrossing interest of the present activities of our 

 science, is a neglect that leads to much misconception, and to much 

 that is not merely unjust but illegal. Because Linnaeus lived, are 

 we to ignore Eosinus, Walch, and Schroeter ? Because J. S. Miller 

 wrote a learned monograph, are Blumenbach and Von Schlotheim to 

 suffer total eclipse ? Because Johannes Miiller turned the light of 

 his genius on the Palmier marin, shall we forget its first admirable 

 description by an equally great genius, Jean Etienne Guettard ? 



F. A. Bathek. 



LITERATURE REFERRED TO 



Agassiz, J. L. R. , 1835. — "Prodrome d'une monograpliie des Radiaires oxi Ecliino- 



dermes." Mem. Soc. Sci. nat. Neufchatel, vol. i., pp. 168-199. 

 Agricola, G., 1558. — " De natura fossilium, Libri X." Omnia ab ipso authors . . . 



recens recognita. Pp. 163-380. Fol. ; Froben, Basileae. [Completed, and perhaps 



first published in 1546]. 

 Austin, T. &T., 1847. — A Monograph on recent and fossil Crinoidea, etc. Parts 1-8. 



4to, 128 pp., xvi. pis. London. 1843-1849. 

 Bertrand, E. , 1763. — Dictionnaire Universel des Fossiles Propres, et des Fossiles 



Aecidentels, etc. 2 vols. 8vo. La Haye. 

 Blumenbacli, J. F., 1779. — Handbuch der Xaturgeschichte. 8vo. Gottingen. Ed. 



IL 1782 ; Ed. IIL 1783 ; Ed. IV. 1791 ; Ed. V. 1797 ; Ed. VI. 1799 ; Ed. 



VII. 1803 ; Ed. VIII. 1807. 

 Blumenbach, J. F. 1790. — " Beytrage zur Naturgeschichte der A'orwelt." Voigt's Mag. 



f. d. neueste a. d. Physik, vol. vi., Heft 4, pp. 1-17, pi. i. Gotha. 

 Blumenbach, J. F., 1796-1810. — Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstiinde. In 10 



parts. 8vo. Gottingen. 

 Carpenter, P. H., 1880. — "On the genus Solanocrinus, Goldfuss, etc." Journ. Linn. 



Soc. London (Zoology), vol. xv., pp. 187-217, pis. ix.-xii. 

 Carpenter, P. H., 1884. — " Report on the Crinoidea— The stalked Crinoids." Chal- 

 lenger Report, Zoology, vol. xi. , part xxxii. 

 Davila, P. F. and Rom6 de I'lsle, J. B. L. de, and others, 1767.— Catalogue system- 



atique . . . des curiosites . . . Qui composent le Cabinet de M. Davila. Svo, 3 



vols. Paris. 



