386 Miscellaneous. 



of Porania pulvillus sent to the B. M. as " from Ross-shire " came 

 from the east coast of that county ; the exact locality is desirable. 

 There is every reason why Porania pulvillus might be expected on 

 the east coast of our islands ; and the remarkable thing is that up 

 to the present time I am as ignorant of its living on that side of our 

 islands as I was in 1865. On the west coast of Ross-shire I have 

 taken the species myself, the specimens recorded Brit. Assoc. Rep. 

 1866, p. 196, having been dredged there. 



Palmipes placenta has recently been procured again in the iloray 

 Firth bv ^Ir. Thomas Scott (' Eighth Annual Rep. Fishery Board 

 of Scotland,' 1890, p. 332). 



Xotes on Nomenclature of some Crinoidea. 



I take this opportunity of noticing certain points in connexion 

 with the nomenclature of recent Crinoidea. 



Antedonidae versus Comatulidae and Comatulse. 



I am at a loss to understand how it is that Dr. P. H. Carpenter 

 in his ' Challenger ' Report and his many valuable papers on 

 Crinoidea, though he employs the genus Antedon ( = Comatula), 

 constantly uses the term Comatulce. Lamarck wilfully gave the 

 name Comatula to a genus which he was aware had previously been 

 described by Fremenville. We do justice in restoring Antedon, and 

 the sooner therefore the word Comatula is decently buried the 

 better. I venture to express a hope that this may be at last done. 

 This can never be the case while the word is so improperly, as I 

 venture to think, used in titles of papers such as the following : — 

 " Variations in the Forms of Cirri in certain Comatulao ; " " Pre- 

 liminary Report ' Blake ' Comatulte ; " " Classification of the 

 Comatulse ; " " Descriptions of new and little-known Comatulae ; " 

 " Comatulee of the Leyden ^Museum :" and the important " Report 

 on the ' Challenger ' Crinoidea," which contains the description of 

 Antedon and its allies, is called " Part II. Comatulse," and the 

 family designated " Comatulidae." Xow in each of the above cases 

 the correct word to have used would have been Antedonidae. When 

 Comatula ceased to be used the family name fell with it according 

 to the rule — " Families should be uniformly named by adding the 

 termination idee to the name of the earliest known or most typically 

 characterized genus in them." In accordance with this rule, when 

 in 1865 I substituted Fremenville's earlier name for that of 

 Lamarck, I of course dropped the term Comatulidae, and placed 

 Antedon in a Fam. Antedonidae. 



Comaster versus Actinometra. 



Agassiz in 1835 instituted a genus Comaster for forms allied to 

 Antedon in which " the arms are ramified instead of being simply 

 furcate," and he gave as its type Comatula multiradiata, Lamarck. 



