28 ME. P. II. CAEPENTEE ON THE GENUS ACTINOMETEA. 



2. C. ech'uioptera, on the other hand, has, according to Miiller', a very marked comh 

 on the oral pinnules. He says nothing, however, about the position of the mouth ; and I 

 have unlbrtunately not heen able to examine the species for myself. 



3. According to Pourtalcs - the mouth is excentric in Com. mei'idionalis ; but he makes 

 no mention of a comb on the oral pinnules. If it should be absent in this species, and 

 also in Com. rosea, while it is present in Phanoffeiiia, in which the mouth is central, it 

 becomes obvious that the only external character, besides the shape of the calyx, on which 

 Ave can rely with any certainty in the determination of t)ie generic position of any 

 Comulala, is the nearly central or the excentric position of the mouth. 



4. According to Mviller '' there are only two radials in Act. rolularia which are united 

 by a syzygium, while they bear the distichal axillaries directly ; and these are also syzy- 

 gial segments. Although, like Miiller, I examined Lamarck's original specimen of this 

 species, I cannot confirm the above statement. It is true that only two radials are visible 

 externally; but this is often the case in Comalulce, with a wide ccntrodorsal piece; and 

 I was quite unable to satisfy myself that they are united l)y a syzygium, as Miiller 

 describes, and as is the case with the second and third radials of Act. Solaris, while I was 

 equally unable to determine a syzygial union between the two segments of which the 

 distichal series is composed. Lamarck's original specimen of this species in the Paris 

 Museum is wrongly lal>elled C. hremcirra, Troschel. 



5. The dry specimen of Act. Jimhriata in the Paris Museum, from the voyage of 

 Peron and Lcsueur, is labelled C. muliiradiata, Lam. ; while Reynaud's original speci- 

 mens from the Strait of Sonde are labelled C. brevicirra, Trosch., together with Act. 

 rotalaria and the Vavas variety of Miiller' s C. parvicirra. 



G. In Jet. midtifida the tertiary arms borne by the palmar axillaries may divide again 

 several times. In every case there are only two segments between each division, and all 

 the successive axillaries, like the palmar axillaries, have no syzygia. Although ^Miiller 

 mentions this in his description of the species, it is placed in liis scheme in a grouj) in 

 which the axillaries of the arms have syzygia. In reality, however, this is the case with 

 the distichal axillaries only. 



7. Tlie typo specimen of this last species does not exist in the Paris Museum under 

 that name, nor even under C. breclcirra, Troschel, which seems to have been used as 

 an equivalent for it ; but I l)elieve that three small spirit-specimens from the voyage of 

 Peron and Lesueur in 1803, which arc classed, with two specimens of Act. peetinata, 

 under the name of C. simplex, are really those which were described by Miiller as 

 C. parvicirra. 



8. It will be noticed that Act. polymorplia has already appeared higher in the list as 

 a species in which palmars are not developed. In some iucjividuals l)ut few of the 10 

 primary arms bear axillaries ; so that the total number of arms is less than 20 (PI. II. 

 fig. 9) ; while in others all the j)rimary arms divide again, and so do the resulting secon- 

 dary arms, so that the total number is little short of 40 (PI. II. figs, 10, 11). This is 

 very unusual ; for I only know of two other species which present the same kind of 



' ' Gattung ComaUda,' p. 14. - Loc. cit. No. 11, p. 355. 



' 'Gattung Comatuh,' -p. 20. 



