Morphology o/'Antedon rosacea. 23 



Teuscher, Marshall, and myself. Messrs. Vogt and Yung, 

 however, write as follows on p. 520: — "Dans toutes les descrip- 

 tions qui vont suivre, nous nous representerons done I'aniraal 

 comme couclie sur la face ventrale, le sommet du calice ^tant 

 tourne en haut. Cette position, inverse de celle qu'afFecte la 

 Coniatule a Petat de Pentacrine, est la seule par laquelle nous 

 pouvons faire congruer son anatomic avec celle des Stelldrides 

 et des Echinides, chez lesquels tout le monde admet cette 

 position comme ^tant normale^ oil tous les anatomistes parle 

 de I'intestin montant depuis la bouche, du canal pierreux 

 descendant depuis la face dorsale, etc.'^ 



Messrs. Vogt and Yung's vertical sections of the calyx 

 therefore represent the cirri as growing upwards from the 

 centro-dorsal, or "en I'air," to use a military expression. No 

 figure at all is given of the natural position of a Comatula^ and 

 the student is therefore liable to gain an entirely erroneous idea 

 about the functions and relations of the cirri. On p. 544 the 

 authors speak of " pla9ant la Comatule dans sa position 

 anatomique norraale, le disque en bas, la coupole avec les 

 cirrhes en haut," and are then obliged to describe the gullet 

 as " se dirigeant obliquement en haut et en arri^re, vers 

 I'espace interradial anal." 



The student of comparative anatomy who is advanced 

 enough to use Messrs. Vogt and Yung's monograph, but is 

 unable to understand that a Crinoid is simply an inverted 

 Starfish, and that the gullet descends into the stomach instead 

 of ascending^ must be a somewhat remarkable person. Since 

 the Crinoid is the first type of the Echinodermata which is 

 brought before his notice, it seems a curious plan to tell him 

 that the Comatula-&ti:iionB are all represented upside down, 

 in order to " congruer" the anatomy of a Crinoid with that 

 of other types which he has not yet studied. 



To speak of an inverted Comatula as being " dans sa posi- 

 tion anatomique normale," even as compared with the other 

 Echinoderms, is to use a designation which cannot be better 

 described than by the terms which the authors themselves 

 employ with reference to another anatomical name introduced 

 by Dr. Carpenter, viz. " eminemment impropre." 



It will be very interesting to see how far the authors will 

 allow this principle to carry them when they come to deal 

 with the Holothurians, Cirripedes, and above all with man as 

 compared with Vertebrates which do not walk erect. Which 

 is his normal anatomical position ? No comparative anatomist 

 has yet represented his human dissections as otherwise than 

 in the erect position. Why should not the Crinoids also be 

 figured in the natural position which they occupied during 



