148 A. £J. Verrill — Revision Genera and Species of Starfishes. 



pulchellus) and gave it a definite diagnosis. His use of the name 

 should, therefore, liave priority, and the name should not be applied 

 to any other group, unless P. loulchellns be included in a larger 

 generic gi'oup, as was done by Perrier, in 1876, and by Sladen. But 

 in the latter case, Goniaster should have had precedence over Penta- 

 (jonaster, for such a comprehensive group, on the ground of priority. 



In a later work (] 894) Perrier separated Gray's Pentagonaster as 

 a distinct genus, but he ignored the original application of the name 

 by Gray, and adopted the later name, Stephanaster of Ayres, for 

 Gray's genus. 



At the same time he retained Pentagonaster for a large group of 

 species closely allied to P. australis, which was the type of Tosia 

 Gray, 1840. This arrangement was based on the fact that Linck, in 

 1733, had figured an indeterminable species, apparently of the latter 

 group, under the name of Pentagonaster. But Linck, however great 

 his merits may have been, was certainly not a binomial writer. 

 Most of his names were trinomial or polynomial, and there is noth- 

 ing to be gained, except increased confusion, by trying to give 

 priority to the names used by such polynomial writers, in place of 

 later binomial names that have been definitely defined and fixed in 

 the binomial system. 



Perrier, in 1876, restricted Goniaster to a genus containing only a 

 single species, Pentaceros ohtusangula (Lam.) Gray. This species 

 was not mentioned by Agassiz in connection with the genus Gonias- 

 ter. Its use by Perrier is, therefore, in a new sense and like that of 

 an entirely new name, and was not justifiable.* 



Sladen (1889) has also restricted Goniaster to the same type. 



III. Tosia was also proposed by Gray, in 1840, for a definite 

 group of this family, with T. australis as the type. Several other 

 species were added to it by him in 1847. This name has been 

 ignored by most later writers on starfishes, or else it has been placed 

 as a partial synonym of Pentagonaster (Sladen, Perrier) or Astrogo- 

 nium (M. and Trosch.). If Gray's restricted genus Pentagonaster be 

 deemed a valid one, as by Perrier (1894), then Tosia should be used for 

 the large group of species, called Pentagonaster by Perrier and Sladen, 

 agreeing well with Gray's diagnosis and type-species (71 aicstralis). 



IV. Hippasteria was proposed by Gray, in 1840, for the single type- 

 species, H. phrygiana (as H. Europoea, etc.). This name has been 

 so generally adopted by later writers that it needs no discussion here. 



* The restriction of Goniaster to its correct type leaves this genus without a 

 name. Therefore I would propose for it Pseudoreaster, with P. obtusangidus 

 (Lam.) as its type and only known species. 



