ANTEDON, OR FEATHER-STAR. 



573 



ing the free-swimming Larvse of Echinodermata, the Tow-net 

 should be carefully employed in the manner already described 

 (§ 177); and the search for them is of course most likely to be 

 successful in those localities in which the Adult forms of the 

 respective Species abound, and on warm calm days, in which they 

 seem to come to the surface in the greatest numbers.* 



444. One of Xfee most interesting of all Echinodermata to the 

 Microscopist is the Antedonf (more generally known as Comaiula), 

 or 'Feather-Star' (Fig. 298), which is the commonest existing 



Fig. 298. 



Antedon (Cornatula) or Feather-star. 



representative of the great Fossil series of Crinoidea, or Lily- 

 Stars, that were among the most abundant types of this Class 

 in the earlier epochs of the world's history. Like these, the 



* The development of the Holothurida generally has been studied by 

 Prof. Midler (see his Memoir in the "Berlin Transactions" for 1849) ; and 

 that of Synapta inhcerens, by Prof. "Wyville Thomson, in "Quart. Journ. 

 of Micros. Science," N.S., Vol. ii. (1862), p. 105. 



t The Author has found himself obliged by the accepted Rules of 

 Zoological Nomenclature, to adopt the designation Antedon, instead of 

 the much better known and very appropriate name given to this type 

 by Lamarck. See his ' Researches on the Structure, Physiology, and 

 Development of Antedon rosacev.s, in "Philos. Transact." 1866, p. 671. 



