MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CEINOIDS. 



25 



comatulids, which is rather fortunate in view of the fact that a subsequently estab- 

 lished Aledo has been widely used as a generic name among the Bryozoa. 



Schweigger attempted to make Alecto Tiorrida a synonym of the Lmnean 

 Astenas muUiradiata; but we can not attach any importance to this, as it was cus- 

 tomary until a much later date to consider all multibrachiate comatulids as belong- 

 ing to the species " muUiradiata, " as was done, for mstance, by Audouin and Leuck- 

 art, through ignorance of the real generic and specific, as well as of the family, 

 characters of the animals. 



The comatulids mentioned and described by Lamarck in the year following 

 Leach's description of his three new species of Alecto are: 



Comatula solans, sp. nov Comatula solark. 



(Capillaster sentosa . 

 Comanlhus benneUi. I 

 Comaster multifida. 



Comatula rotalaria, sp. nov Comatula rotalaria. 



Comatula fimhriata, sp. nov Capillaster multiradiata. 



Comatula carinata, sp. nov Tropiometra cannata. 



Comatula mediterranea, sp. nov Aniedon mediterranea. 



Comatula adeonx, sp. nov Ollgometndes adeonx. 



Comatula brachiolata, sp. nov Comatulella brackiolala. 



The determination of the iype of the genus Comatula is a matter of consider- 

 able unportance in crinoid nomenclature; succeeding authors have either accepted 

 it in the sense of Lamarck to cover all comatulids, or have dropped it altogether; 

 the genus has never been properly revised. Now Lamarck's generic diagnosis is 

 quite explicit; it reads, "bouche inferieur, centrale, isolec, membraneuse, tubu- 

 leuse, saillante;" this obviously refers to the anal tube which was mistaken by 

 Lamarck for the mouth, and shows that when it was written he had in mmd an 

 exocyclic form, or a member of the family Comasteridse, thus eliminating from 

 consideration the species adeonse, cannata, fimhriata (which has a central or sub- 

 central mouth, though belonging to the Comasterida;), and mediterranea, and leavmg 

 solaHs, brachiolata, rotalaria, and multiradiata, the last having been subsequently 

 elhninated by L. Agassiz, who made it the tyi:.e of his new genus Comaster m 1836. 

 Rotalaria was designated as the type of Comanthus in 1907, thus leaving the two 

 species Solaris and brachiolata as possible tyi^es of Comatula; of the two soUns 

 agrees best with the generic description which, moreover, could not by any chance 

 have been based upon brachiolata, as the two specimens of that form known to 

 Lamarck are both very small, and have the arms folded in such a way as to conceal 

 the disk. Thus we find that Solaris must be taken as the type of the genus Comatula . 

 Lamarck had undoubtedly originated the name Comatula or, in its French form, 

 "Comatule" long before he published it, and before either Antedon or AUcto were 

 published, and, as prioritv of publication was not such a vital matter in those days 

 as it is now, he was unwilling to relinquish it in favor of either of the earlier names, 

 the more so as both of these were ill-defined and covered the ground only in a 

 rudimentary way; his reputation was so great that practically all succeeding authors 

 followed him, only a very few resurrecting Leach's name Alecto, while Antedon was 

 completely buried. 



79146°— Bull. 82—15 3 



