62 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



a cliiim which has been shown to be wholly untenable, it is scarcely 

 likelv that liritish iiiituralists will refuse the honour justly clue to 

 Dr. .1. V. Thoni])son, for what can scarcely perhaps be regarded as a 

 sudu'ient reason." 



In a footnote Busk refers to his own article " On the Priority of 

 the Term ' Polyzoa ' for the Ascidian Polypes " (Ann. Nat. Hist. 

 2iid series, vol. x. p. 352, 1852). He there convincingly shows that 

 Deci'inber 1830 (date of Polyzoa) is earlier than March 1831 (first 

 nieTitionof Bryozoa). But he is apparently unaware how the import- 

 ance of this undeniable fact is undermined by other considerations. 



J. Vaughan Thompson was a man of renown who dimmed the 

 lustre of his researches by his confused manner of expounding them. 

 The fifth memoir of his ' Zoological Eesearches,' which is here in 

 question, is entitled " On Polyzoa, a new animal discovered as an 

 inhabitant of some Zoophites, with a description of the newly 

 instituted Genera of PediceUaria and Vesicularia." 



At p. 94, Thompson says : — " This new animal, the Polyzoa, was 

 subsequently found in Sertidaria Cuscuta, Sjnnosa, and Pustidosa." 



At p. 90, he says : — " The discovery of the Polyzoa was made in 

 the summer of 1820; during the subsequent and following seasons, 

 an exactly similar structure was noticed in the other species above 

 enumerated, and in a new type which perhaps merits to be distin- 

 guished as a separate genus, under the title of PediceUaria." 



It thus appears that Polyzoa and Bryozoa are not really com- 

 parable, the latter being of ordinal and the former of generic value. 

 Now, according to Scudder's 'Nomenclator Zoologicns,' Polyzoa was 

 instituted by Lesson as amolluscan genus inl830,while,accordingto 

 Cuvier's ' Kegne Animal,' vol. iii. p. 385 (1830), Lesson's ' J\Lanuel 

 de rilist. des Mollusques ' was in fact published in 1829, so that 

 Thompson's Polyzoa, published in December 1830, was void by 

 preoccupation. 



Note on J. V. Thompson's use of the term " Polyzoa." 

 By Prof. W. A. Hebdman, F.R.S., F.L.S. 



I HAVE read with much interest the report of the remarks made 

 by the Kev, T. R. R. Stebbing, at the last meeting of the Society, 

 in regard to the use of the term " Polyzoa " in the title of one of 

 the papers then communicated to the meeting. There are several 

 distinct points that can be raised in the controversy as to the use 

 of the terms "Bryozoa" and "Polyzoa." The only one that I 

 desire to remark upon now is Mr. Srebbing's contention that 

 Dr. J. Vaughan Thompson, in his publication of December, 1830, 

 intended to use the term "Polyzoa" as a generic title, and that 

 as such the name was pre-occupied by Lesson's institution of a 

 Molluscan genus in 1829. I am sorry that an examination of 

 ,T. V. Thompson's 5th Memoir, in the 4th part of his 'Zoological 

 Researches and Illustrations,' leaves me unable to agree with 

 Mr. Stebbing that Tliompson used "Polyzoa" as a generic name. 

 Several passages in the memoir seem to me to show clearly that 



