Miscellaneous. 147 



Mollusca seem to have ignored this, with the exception of Herr- 

 mannsen f, who has this entry : " JJiscoides Renieri (? 1807. Tavol. 

 classif.* [*=uot seen]) teste Agass. !Nom. . , . =Fleurobranchus 

 Cuvier.'' 



After much trouble on the part of many friends, I have at last 

 received, through the most kind exertions of Professor Dante 

 Pantanelli of Modena, a clear and almost complete account of the 

 ■work referred to. The author's name was Stcfano Andrea Rexiee, 

 of Chioggia. The title of the pamphlet in question is ' Tavola 

 alfabetica | delle conchiglie adriatiche.' The copy in the library of 

 Padua University — the only copy that could be seen — has lost the 

 full titlepage ; according to Carus and Engelmann (Bibliogr. Zool. 

 p. S31) it continued " nominate dietro il sistema di Linneo, edizione 

 di Gmelin. s.l. 1788." Professor Pantanelli, however, asserts that 

 the date is indubitably 1804. The date 1807, given by Herr- 

 mannson, refers to another pamphlet, No. 1 in Agassiz and Strick- 

 land's Bibliography, -while the date 1788 may be due to a confusion 

 with ]S"o. 5 in that Bibliography. For the present discussion it is 

 enough to admit that any possible date is anterior to 1811. 



The book is a folio and comprises two sections : Part I. pp. v-xiii, 

 entitled " Molluschi eioe Lamellibranchi e Gasteropodi compresi 

 qucUi terrestri " ; Part II. pp. xv-xxvi, " Prospetto delle classe dei 

 vermi ossia Molluschi — Vermi intestinali — Polipi." At the end are 

 eight large systematic tables, preceded by a titlepage. This copy 

 may possibly be incomplete so far as the number of tables is 

 concerned. 



The name Discoides is found only in Part II., and occurs first in 

 line 5 on p. xvi, being the ninth in a list of genera of MoUusca, 

 thus : — 



" IX Discoide Discoides Een. Discoide Discoide barcolante 

 D. natans D. Branlant lienier.'"' 



At the foot of the page are various footnotes ; of these (c) gives 

 a description of the genus and (d) an account of the locomotion of 

 the species and of its chief vaTiations. The author promises a 

 more complete description of the species, with anatomical details 

 and a figure, in a future " Saggio " ; but this he never published. 

 The descriptions here given are, however, enough to justify the 

 name Discoides. "Whether that name is a synonym of Pleuro- 

 hranchus, established by Cuvier about the same time, must be left 

 to the nialacologists to determine. 



The Echinoid genus therefore cannot bear the name Discoides 

 Parkinson 1811, but must accept the modification Discoidea. The 

 American school of purists would enforce the validity of Gray's 

 misprint, while a contrary school would reject both Discoidea and 

 Discodea because of their common etymology with Discoides. The 

 latter view, which I do not admit, might lead to the acceptance of 

 one of the names next to be considered. 



Gradually other species were described as belonging to the genus, 



t Indicia generum malacoz. &c., i. p. 394 ; 181G. 



