678 DE. W. B, CAEPENTEE ON THE STEUCTUEE, PHYSIOLOGY, AKD 



Anfedon but to the germs Eur tj ale. Hence it is obvious that in regard alike to Llhuyd's 

 priority in time, and to the greater accuracy of his conclusion, we are justified in 

 claiming for our own countryman the merit of having been the first to take up this 

 important position. 



llctuming now to the history of Antedon, we find it characteristically described as a 

 peculiar type of " Sea-stars " in the remarkable work of Linckius'; who seems to have 

 been the first to attempt to bring together the large number of foims of this group 

 acquired by the industry of collectors, and to endeavour to systematize them. Although 

 his principles of classification were far from sound, and conducted him to an anangcment 

 which was in many respects erroneous, yet they led him to erect Antedon (of which six 

 species regarded by him as distinct are described under three generic names) into a gi'oup 

 distinct not only from the Asferiadce, but also from the Ojaliiuridce, with which they have 

 been associated by many later systematists. To this group (termed by him a Class, but 

 rather in reality a Family) he assigned the name Crinitce sive Comatcv Stellcp, on account 

 of the hairy appearance given to the arms by the " capillary fibres " with which they are 

 fringed ; thus distinctly foreshadowing the name Comatula conferred upon this generic 

 type by Lamarck. The first of his genera he named AeKra/ci/jj^ioc, to indicate its possession 

 of ten radiating caudce crinitce ; and he ranges under it three species, (1) the Crocea 

 Zaffarana Neapolifanorinn, or Se/caSatTua/cTti'oetSrjc of Fabius Columna, (2) the Mosacea 

 or Decempeda Cornuhiensium of Lliiuyd, and (3) the Barlata oy fimhriata of Barrelier. 

 Of the first he quotes Columna's description without copying his figure ; of the second 

 he gives a figure, which though imperfect, is sufficient for its identification, and speaks 

 of it as distinguishable from the preceding only by its inferiority of size, Colujina's Sea- 

 star being often a foot in diameter, whilst the diameter of Llhuyd's does not surpass 

 6 or 7 inches ; of the third also he gives a figure, which shows it to be only another 

 variety of the preceding, at the same time quoting the description given by Barrelier -, 

 who partook of the misapprehension of Columxa respecting the use of the dorsal cirrhi, 



' JonAXNis Hexkici Lixckii Lipsicnsis ' Do Stollis Marinis liber singularis. Tubularum iEuoanim Figiiras 

 oxcmpiis nativis apprimc similes et Autoris Observationes disposuit ct illustravit CnKisiiANrs Gabkiel Fischer 

 Eeglomontanvis.' Lipsice, 1733. — This work deserves special notice on many accounts. Its author, a Phar- 

 macopolist at Leipzig, was a Foreign Member of the Eoyal Society, to the President and FeUows of which it 13 

 dedicated. The large number of types which are described and admirably figured testify to the industry and 

 zeal of its author as a Collector, who seems to have spared neither pains nor expense in procuring specimens 

 from every quarter of the world; and it is peculiarly interesting to find that a main purpose of the formation 

 of this collection was to throw light on the exact nature of those Fossil remains, whose general resemblance to 

 the Sea-stars was clearly enough recognizable, but whoso precise affinities could not be predicated with certainty 

 from anything then known. "In terris per omnem naturaUs historise memoriam nihil repertum simile; in 

 mari analogiam pra; se ferebant viveutia aliqua, sub latiore stcllanira marinarum genere, ramonim insectoriun 

 charactero diifcrentia. Sed nulla hujus generis repericbatur species, cui quantitas et articulorum configuratio 

 congruebant. (iua;rendiB stella; nova; erant, ut instituta cum potrefactis ruderibus coUatione, et genus et primajva 

 forma elucerent." (Preface.) — The binomial nomenclature, moreover, is employed more systematically by 

 LixcKius, than by any other pre-Linnajan author with whom I am acquainted. 



- Bakeelieki, Jacohi, ' Plautaj per Galliam, Hispaniam, et Italiam obseiTataj.' Furls, 1714. 



