90 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 52 



Gymnasteria Gray (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., VI, Dec, 

 1840, 278), type, Gymnasteria spinosa GT2iy=Asterias 

 cariiiifcra Lamarck. 



Within the year 1840 Asfcrias cariiiifcra Lamarck was made the 

 type of three genera : Astcrope Aliiller and Troschel, Astcropsis 

 JMiiller and Troschel, and Gymnasteria Gray. The first was de- 

 scribed in April (jNIonatsber. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Berhn, 104), the 

 second in September (Archiv f. Naturgesch., 322), and the last in 

 December. Aliiller and Troschel thought that their Asterope was 

 invalidated by Astcrope Philippi (for a crustacean), published the 

 same year in Archiv f. Xaturgeschichte, part 2, June, 186, so that 

 they changed the name to Astcropsis in their article "L^ber die Gat- 

 tungen der Asterien," published about September in the same jour- 

 nal, page T,22. Investigation proves, however, that Philippi's name 

 was published fully two months after that of Miiller and Troschel, 

 the evidence being a reprint of Philippi's article in the Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History, VI, September, 1840, 89. This trans- 

 lation states that it is reprinted from Wiegmann's Archiv. Part 2, 

 June, 1840, thus fixing the date. There is no reason why Asterope 

 should not replace Gymnasteria. The family Gymnastcriidcr will 

 become Asteropidce. 



Patiria Gray (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., VI, Dec, 1840, 290), 

 type, Patiria coceinea Gray=Asteriscus coceineus M. and 

 T., id>j[2=Astcrina eoccinca (Gray) Perrier, 1875. 



Patiria was monotypic when described, and since its type is an 

 Asterina, it naturally becomes a synonym of that genus. Gray, 

 however, in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1847, 82, extended the genus to in- 

 clude granifcra, ocellifera, obtusa, and erassa. Perrier, 1875, then 

 restricted Patiria to oeellifera and erassa, relegating eoecinea, grani- 

 fcra, and obtusa to Asterina. Sladen, in 1889, added a third species. 

 It will be seen that Perrier, with his usual freedom of treatment, ex- 

 cluded the type from his genus Patiria, w^hich is therefore not the 

 Patiria of Gray. Perrier's genus may be called Parasterina, the 

 type being Patiria erassa Gra}'. 



Pararciiaster Sladen ( Narr. Chall. Exp., I, 1885, 610, Fig. 

 204), type, P. pedicifer Sladen. 



This name is still employed by Ludwig. Kochler, and others. It 

 is a synonym of Benthopecten Verrill (Amcr. Journ. Sci., XXV^III, 

 1884, 218, footnote). 



