﻿SCHUCHERTj SILURIC AND DEVONIC CYSTIDEA 213 



Lepocrinites G mrad ] 



Lepocrinites Conrad, Ann. Rep. X. A'. Geol. Surv., [840, p. 207. — Van- 

 ixk.m. Xai. I list. N\ Y., Geol., in. iX4_>, p. 117, lexl fig. 4. -Mather, 

 ibidem, 1. 1843, p. 346, text-fig. 4. 

 Lepocrinus or Lepadocrinus Mail. Nat. llist. N. Y., Pal., 111, 1859, p. [25, 



pl. 7. figs. 1-20. 

 Apiocystites Jaekel (partim), Stammesgeschichte der Pelmatozoen, Ber- 

 lin, 1. [899, p. 279, fig. 59. 

 Lepadocrinus Bather (partim), Treatise on Zoology, pt. m, Echino- 

 derma, London. 1900, p. 61. — Haeckel, Die ^.mphorideen und Cys- 

 toideen, Beitr. Morph. u. Phyl. d. Echinodermen, Leipzig, 1896, p. 

 134- 

 Conrad's original description reads as follows: 

 " Crinoidea. Lepocrinites Gebhardii. By this name 1 introduce a 

 single fossil found by Air. Gebhard. The body is composed of plates 

 of unequal sizes, a few of which have ambulacra, connecting this 

 fossil with the echinodermata ; lower half of the column apparently 

 solid and traversed by a pentangular canal." 



This definition, as stated by Jaekel, is applicable to many Pelma- 

 tozoa, but Mather's fairly good figure, published in 1843, gave the 

 genus and species standing among American collectors. From the 

 standpoint of proper definition, Lepocrinites dates from Hall's rede- 

 scription of the genus in 1859, where he changes the orthography to 

 Lepocrinus or Lepadocrinus because " the name Lepocrinites was 

 given from the resemblance to the Lepas or Barnacle, Antifa, and is 

 properly Lepadocrinus." Jaekel rejects Conrad's name, because 

 the genus can not be recognized from his description ; and Hall's, on 

 the ground of priority, yet makes both synonymous with Apiocys- 

 tites Forbes of 1848. Bather rightly goes back to the first clear 

 usage of the name, giving the genus to Mather because of his fairly 

 accurate figure, but accepts Hall's corrected orthography, Lepado- 

 crinus. The writer prefers to adhere rigidly to the rules of nomen- 

 clature, hence makes use of the name as given by both Conrad and 

 Mather — Lepocrinites. 



Definition of Lepocrinites. — Apiocystinse, with the theca oval or 

 pyriform, the sides somewhat compressed, and composed of 20 plates 

 arranged as follows : 



Basal row has plates 4, 1,2, 3. 



1 This name is usually written Lepadocrinus. . The Code of Nomenclature 



adopted by the American Ornithological Union, 1892, p. 51, states: "The 

 original orthography of a name is to be rigidly preserved, unless a typo- 

 graphical error is evident.'' As there is no evident typographical error in 

 Conrad's proposal of the name, the writer preserves the original orthography. 



