THE CRINOID GENUS COMATULA LAMARCK; WITH A 

 NOTE ON THE ENCRINUS PARR.E OF GUERIN. 



By Austin Hobart Clark, 



Assistant. Bureau of Fisheries. 



In a previous paper" I published a preliiiiiuary notice of a revision 

 of the unstalked crinoids, paying particular attention to the group 

 called collectively '"''Antedon " by Dr. P. H. Carpenter. I had not at 

 the time been able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusio]i in regard to 

 the genus (■omatula {=Acthiomcfra P. H. Carpenter), but I have 

 since taken up the question again and, after reexamining my old 

 material, and studying a very considei'able amount of new, have suc- 

 ceeded in resolving Comafiiln into two apparently homogeneous 

 component tvpes. My study was based, so far as possible, upon ten- 

 armed specimens, and I have paid particular attention to the young 

 Avhenever I have been able to get them. 



The authorities of the U. 8. National jNIuseum have, as in the past, 

 most generously placed at my disposal their entire collection of 

 recent crinoids, and it is on this collection that my studies have been 

 mainly based. 



I wish further to expi"ess my deep appreciation of the kindness and 

 generosity of ^Ir. Alexander Agassiz, who has permitted me to make 

 use of his magnificent collection of recent crinoids, which contains 

 many species which otherwise would have been inaccessible to me, 

 including a considerable number of undescribed forms. I am also 

 greatly indebted to Prof. Hubert Lyman Clark, of Harvard Univer- 

 sity, and to Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale, for many courtesies received 

 during my visits to those institutions. Professor Clark especially, 

 through his minute and exhaustive knowledge of the other Echino- 

 derm groups, has suggested to me many interesting points in the 

 morphological as well as the anatomical and systematic relations of 

 the species upon which to Avoi-k in the future. 



"Smiths. Misc. Coll. (Quarterly Issue), L, pp. 343-364. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXIIK No. 1585. 



683 



