DEVELOPMENT OF ANTEDON (COMATULA, LAMK.) E0SACEU8. C73 



eai-ly Crinoidal stage, from which I should myself be prepared to take it up ; and thus 

 his Memoir on tlic Embryology of Antedon rosacens, whicli lias already appeared in the 

 Philosopliical Transactions (1865), will serve as the complement of my own. 



Before proceeding, however, to detail the results of my researches, I tliinlc it right to 

 give a somewhat particular account of what has been already done by those who have 

 made a special study of Antedon ; and also to mark out the principal stages in the pro- 

 gress of our general knowledge, both of tlie true character of the Crixoidea as consti- 

 tuting one of the primary Ordinal subdivisions of the Class Eciiinodekmata, and of the 

 relationship of the typical Crinoids to Antedon. It will appear in this Historical Sum- 

 mary (p. 682) why I have thought it right, in concurrence xiith. the views of Dr. J. E. 

 Gray', Professor Wyville TnoMSON^ and the Eev. Alfred M. Norman^ to revert to 

 the generic name Antedon given to this type by FflfiMiNViLLE, in preference to using 

 either the designation Comatula conferred upon it by IiASIARCK, under which it is much 

 more generally known, or that of Alecto given to it by Leacii, Avhich is used by the 

 Scandinavian Naturalists. 



II.— HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



The earliest account of Antedon whicli I have been able to find, occurs in the ' Phy- 

 tobasanus''' of Fabius Columxa; an author who deserves to be commemorated for the 

 excellence of his descriptions of various plants and animals, and for the fidelity and 

 beauty of his delineations, which were engraved on copper and printed on the same 

 page with the letter press. The figure he gives" of his SeAraSnduaKrn'oeiSjK, is so charac- 

 teristic as to enable me almost certainly to identify it with the species which forms the 

 subject of the present memoir ; indeed I do not think it has been since surpassed by any 

 figure not drawn from the animal in its natural position during life. I quote the words 

 in which this author commences his description, as indicating the remarkable abundance 

 of the specimens that fell under his notice, and the strong impression made upon him by 

 their beauty : — " Nova ct pcrelegans est hujus Stellce forma, ab aliis omnibus difibrens 

 nee adhuc descripta, nostro litori frequens, ita ut nee ulla rctrahantur retia, quiu ipsis 

 implicata, et simul cum piscibus in foro etiam non inveniatur." He gives a very accurate 

 description of its jointed arms and of its dorsal cirrhi; but he fancied that the latter 

 were used to grasp food and to draw it into the mouth, which he erroneously supposed 

 to be at the central point from which they radiate. Of the soft visceral mass occupying 

 the ventral cavity of the cup, and having the mouth in its centre, he says, " ex adversa 

 parte corpus conspicitur rotundum, la;ve, molle, cujus interiora propter tenuitatcm con- 



' British Museum Catalogue of British Eadiata, p. 28. 

 ^ Op. cit. 



' " On the Genera and Species of British Echinodermata," in Annals of Natural Historj-, 3rd ser. vol. x\.. 

 p. 99 (Feb. 1865). 



* ^vToftaaaiot, sivc Plantarum aliquot Historia. Keajyoli, 1592. 



* See p. 12 of the Appendix to the Phj-tobasanus, entitled " riseiuni aliquot riantarumque novarum Ilistoria." 



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