STARFISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE SEAS. 305 



{=Astrogonium longimanum Mobiiis). The first species is held, 

 without dissent, to be synonymous with Goniodiscus capella Miiller 

 and Troschel, 1842, which in 18G5 had been made the type of 

 Ogmaster by von Martens. In 1889 Shiden made the second 

 species — namely, D. longimana — the type of Iconaster. Doctor 

 Clark states that Gray designated no type, and that since D. reevesii 

 is invalidated by having been made under another name, the type 

 of Ogmaster, " Dorigona longimana (Mobius) must be the type of 

 DoAgonaP If this were correct, Iconaster would naturally be a 

 name of later application. 



The original description of Gray (1866, p. 7) is as follows: 



v. Dorigona. Body depressed, 5 raj^ed, smooth ; the dorsal and oral disk 

 covered with many smooth, flat, polygonal squares ; the marginal ossicules 

 without any mobile spine. 



1. Dorigona rccvcsii (T. 7, f. 3). Inhab. China or Japan; common in boxes 

 of insects brought from China and Japan. 



See a. Dorigona longimana=Astrogonium longimanum, Mobms, Abhandl. 

 IV (1860) 7, t. 1, f. 5, 6. 



The only species in the British Museum was evidently D. reevesii, 

 which is also the one formally listed, and hence automatically the 

 type. The reference to D. longimana seems to be casual, an " aside," 

 such as Gray frequently indulged in, as, for example, on the same 

 page under Stellaster. Here we find " 1. Stellaster CMldreni^'' fol- 

 lowed by " See a, Asterias equestris Retz. * * * j_ Stellaster 

 gracilis Mobius." We Imow that the first species is the type, because 

 the genus was described monotypically in 1840. Gray naturally 

 chose a species with which he was personally acquainted. 



The following observations are pertinent in judging the merits of 

 this case : 



1. A species doubtfully referred to a genus can not subsequently 

 be made its type, especially in place of a figured or described species 

 upon which the generic name appears to be based {D. reevesii). 



2. The first reviser of a genus can not revise the genus before it is 

 described. In other words, what von Martens in 1865 did with 

 Goniodiscus capella does not have a revisional effect on Dorigona 

 reevesii (the same species) in 1866. Whoever comes after Gray must 

 choose the type of Dorigona upon the data submitted by Gray, not 

 upon what von Martens thought or did before Gray's genus was 

 published. This answers Dr. Clark's statement that D. reevesii is 

 invalidated for the type-species of Dorigona by having already been 

 made the type of Oginaster. 



3. Since Sladen eliminated D. longimana by making it the type of 

 Iconaster, he became the first reviser, and automatically fixed the 

 type of Dorigona as D. reevesii. No one is at liberty to change this 

 type. The type of Dorigona is D. reevesii. first, because it is the 



