Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Iv. (191 1), No. '^3- 9 



the opinion that it was the axis of a " Vitgtilaria or some 

 similar creature." 



In 1873 Moss described a Virgularian actinozoon from 

 Burrard's inlet, Frazer River, British Columbia, which he 

 considered might be identical with Gray's Osteocella 

 septentrionalis. He gave a good description of the speci- 

 men and some figures which leave no doubt that his 

 species is the same as that now described. Moss's 

 specimen was 8ft. 6in. in length. 



In August of the same year Stearns (13) described 

 an Ahyouoid polyp from Barracuda inlet, B. Columbia, 

 with an axis very similar to that described by Gray as 

 Osteocella. 



Stearns placed his specimen in Cuvier's genus Pavon- 

 aria, but subsequently gave it the new generic name 

 Verrillia. In a later paper (1882), however, he refers to 

 a note by Professor Verrill, who considered the specimen 

 he examined to be allied to Halipteris cJiristii, and conse- 

 quently transfers it to the genus Halipteris with the 

 specific name H. blakei. 



In more modern times the genus Osteocella has been 

 referred to by Jungersen, Balss, and Nutting. Nutting (12) 

 accepting Verrill's view that the generic name Pavonaria 

 is a synonym of Balticina (Gray) considers that the 

 specimens preserved in the Stanford University Museum 

 in California, and labelled Verrillia blakei, cannot be 

 separated from the species Balticitia {i.e., Pavonaria") fin- 

 niarchica (Sars). 



If we are justified in assuming that all these specimens 

 from the west coast of N. America belong to the genus, 

 we see that the generic name has shifted as follows : — 

 Osteocella (1870), Virgularia (1872), Pavonaria (1873), 

 Verrillia (1873), Halipteris (1882), Balticina (1909). 



