82 Dr. r. H. Carpenter on the 



has been fully explained by Schluter and myself, and there 

 is therefore no need to go into it again, except as regards one 

 point. 



The genus Antedon was established by De Fr^minville in 

 a " M(^moire sur un nouveau genre de Zoophites de I'Ordre 

 des Eadiaires " (Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1811, torn. xi. 

 p. 349). In this notice De Freminville described a new 

 species, Antedon gorgonia^ and referred for illustration to 

 figure 6 on pi. cxxiv. of the ' Encyclopedic Mdthodique,' 

 which was then in course of publication ; and this fact has 

 led Perrier * to say, on p. 79 of his elaborate monograph on 

 the structure and development of Antedon rosacea, that the 

 name Antedon \va.s, " donne en 1811 par Freminville dans 

 V Encyclopedie Methodique a I'Astdrie rosace de Linck." 

 This statement is entirely incorrect, for De Freminville never 

 wrote in the ' Encyclopedie ' at all. 



Schluter tj while regarding Solanocrinus as a synonym of 

 Antedon, suggested at the same time the possibility of limiting 

 the name to those fossil Comatulai which have a round axial 

 opening on the upper surface of the centro-dorsal and no radial 

 pits on its lip. Zittel J took this course in his Palseontology, 

 where he described Solanocrinus as a subgenus of Antedon ; 

 and his pupil, Dr. Walther, has gone yet further. He defines 

 Solanocrinus as follows § : — " Ungestielte Crinoiden von 

 sehr variireuder Form, Centrodorsale mit rundem Nahrungs- 

 canal ohne Radialgruben, mit schmalen lanzettformigen 

 Basalia, mit 2 oder 3 Radialia, 10 oder 20 Armen, ohne Syzy- 

 gialnahte." 



Only two of the characters mentioned in the preceding 

 definition could possibly be of any value in the separation of 

 Solanocrinus from Antedon, viz. the nature of the centro- 

 dorsal and the absence of syzygies in the arms. It seems to 

 have escaped Dr. Walther's notice that I discussed Schliiter's 

 proposition seven years ago il, and showed how utterly im- 

 possible it is to make the presence or absence of radial pits on 

 the centro-dorsal a character of generic value. Schliiter 

 himself admits that these pits are not always present in 



* " M^moire sur I'Organisation et le D^veloppement de la Comatule de 

 la M^diterranee (Antedon rosacea, Liuck)," Nouv. Arch, da Mus. d'Hist. 

 Nat. Paris, 1886, t. ix. fasc. 1, pp. 53-176, pis. i.-x. 



t " Ueber einige astylide Crinoiden," Zeitschr. d. deutsch. geol. 

 Gesellsch. Jahrg. 1878, p. 36. 



X ' Handbuch der Palseontologie,' Bd. i. p. 396. 



§ Op. cif. p. 175. 



II '■ On some undescribed Comatulfe from tlie 15ritish Secondar}' Rocks," 

 Quart. Jouru. Geol. Soc. 1880, vol. xxxvi. pp. 36-40. 



