570 



bers, clustered like the carpels of an orange round a central axis.« It 

 is to this and similar passages that Greeff refers when he writes as 

 follows 3 ) . »Ich glaube hiernach die Priorität für die Beobachtung, dass 

 das Herz der Crinoideen durch fünf Scheidewände in der beschriebenen 

 Weise in fünf Kammern getheilt ist, in Anspruch nehmen zu dürfen.« 



With respect to the »feinen Plattenepithel« and the »spärlichen 

 Muskelfasern« I freely admit Prof. Greeff's claims to priority of disco- 

 very, except that like my friend Ludwig I have not succeeded in find- 

 ing the muscular fibres at all, so that I am inclined to doubt their 

 discovery ! 



But on the other hand, I cannot regard as at all valid Prof. Greeff's 

 claims to be regarded as »der Entdecker« of the real nature of the 

 chambered organ. For Dr. Carpenter's MS was received by the 

 Royal Society as early as the 16th of December 1875 4 ), although it 

 was not actually »read« until Jan. 20th 1876, a week after Prof. Greeff 

 had described his own observations at Marburg. To make good his 

 claim therefore , Prof. Greeff would have to show that his MS 

 had been received by the authorities of the Marburg »Gesellschaft« etc. 

 before Dec. 16th 1875. 



Even then, however, the priority of discovery would rest with 

 Dr. Carpenter, and that not by a week or ten days but by more than 

 ten years. On June 15th 1865 Dr. Carpenter presented to, and read 

 before the Royal Society the first part of his »Researches on the Struc- 

 ture, Physiology, and Development oiAntedon [Comatula Lamk.) rosa- 

 ceus«. This memoir which was published in extenso in the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions for the same year (Vol. 156) contains the following 

 passages that have apparently escaped the notice of Prof. Greeff; or 

 else he would hardly have described 5 ) the paper of Jan. 20th 1876 as 

 containing Dr. Carpenter's »erste Mittheilung über das fünf kamme- 

 rige Organ der Crinoideen«. 



p. 738. »This canal (i. e. the central canal of the embryonic basal 

 plate) gives passage to a large sarcodic cord that proceeds from the wall 

 of a remarkable quinquelocular organ contained within the centrodorsal 

 basin, which I shall hereafter describe under the name of the »centro- 

 dorsal vesicle«, and which I shall show to be an expansion of the ori- 

 ginal Crinoidal axis, hollowed out into a multiple ventricular cavity.« 



3) Marburg. Sitzungsberichte. No. 4. 1879. p. 54. 



4) For some reason or other the phrase »Received Dec. 16th 1875« was unfortu- 

 nately omitted by the printer from the separate copies of Dr. Carpenter's paper. 

 It is to be found in its place (just after the title) on p. 211 of Vol. XXIV of the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society for 1876. 



5) Marburg. Sitzungsberichte. No. 4. Mai 1879. p. 53, 



