Miscellaneous. 387 



In 18-il J. Miiller foi-med the genus Adinometra, with Oomatula 

 Solaris, Lamarck, as the type ; and having examined " a spirit speci- 

 men in the Paris Museum, which had been identified with the 

 Comatula multiradiata of Lamarck," he placed it in his genus 

 Alecto { = Antedon) ; on which Dr. Carpenter remarks " his reference 

 of it to Alecto is difficult to understand." Dujardin and Hupe 

 removed Comatula midtiradiata into the genus Actinometva. The 

 Actinometra midtiradiata as defined by Carpenter is considered by 

 him to contain only a part of the forms included by Lamarck and 

 by J. Miiller under the same specific name. Another part of their 

 forms Carpenter has named Ai-tinomntra Peronii * ; and in the paper 

 in which this last species is described we read : " A. remarkable speci- 

 men in the Bonn Museum was referred to the same type (i. e. C. 

 multiradiata) by Goldfuss (' Petrefacta Germanise,' I., Dusseldorf, 

 1826-35, p. 202), who afterwards dissected it. This, however, may 

 be left out of consideration altogether, as no example presenting 

 such very remarkable peculiarities t as were described by Goldfuss 

 has been met with during the last fifty years, and his type is now 

 generally known by the name Comaster." But this Comaster of 

 Goldfuss is not Comaster, Agassiz. Comaster mxdtiradiatus (Lamarck) 

 is Agassiz's type, and under his genus fall all such species as are 

 congeneric with that species. In other words, Comaster is synony- 

 mous with Actinometra, J. Miiller, and takes precedence of it +. I 

 can see no way out of this. To use Dr. Carpenter's own words — 

 '•'•Comaster, Ag., is by no means the same as Comaster, Goldf." (" On 

 the Genus Solenocrinus," Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xv. 1880, p. 188). 

 If there is such a form as was described by Goldfuss, which several 

 authors have doubted, it will require the invention of a new generic 

 name, which I would suggest might well be Goldfussia, while 

 Comaster must undoubtedly supersede Actinometra. 



Additional Notes on the Mollusic Lepton as a Commensal, and on 

 the Crustacean Genus Bathynectes. By the Rev. Canon A. M. 

 Norman. 



Curiously enough, when consulting one of Stimpson's papers last 

 night in reference to some North-Pacific Crustacea, I came across 

 the following passage, which indicates a third instance of commen- 

 salism of the genera Lepton and Gehia. 



* ' The Comatulje of the Leyden Museum,' p. 214. 



t Goklfuss's characters are given by Carpenter in his paper " On the 

 Genus Actinometra,' Journ. Liun. See. vol. xiii. 1877, p. 455. 



X A reference to what Carpenter summarizes on the subject (Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Zool. vol. ii. 1879, p. 9) will show what a mess J. 

 Miiller made of the nomenclature. No doubt Comaster (or, as he calls it, 

 Actimnnetra) as defined by Carpenter will be hereafter divided. When 

 that division takes place, Actinometra would be resuscitated for his 

 " Group 1. Solaris," and Comaster retained for his " Group 3. typica ; " 

 each genus then would include its own type. 



