DEVELOPMENT OF ANTEDON (COMATULA, LAMK.) EOSACEUS. 683 



Lamarck's name, therefore, and the general acceptance it has met with, I feel constrained 

 to follow the example of Dr. J. E. Gray, Mr. Normax, and Professor Wyville TiiOMSOif, 

 in reverting to the previous designation given by FrSminvillk. 



Although LAJfARCK clearly differentiated Comatula as a generic type from Asterias, 

 Ophiura, and Eimjale, he was veiy far from apprehending its most essential peculiarities ; 

 and his description of it is strangely incorrect as regards one of its most prominent 

 features, since he not only overlooked the true mouth, but described the anal funnel as 

 the mouth, and placed it in the centre of the disk, which is contrary to the fact. " Au 

 centre du disque infericur ou ventral des Comatules, la bouche, membraneuse, tubuleuse 

 ou en forme de sac, fait une saillie plus ou moins considerable suivant les espcces. Ce 

 caractere singulier, qu'on nc rencontre jamais dans les Euryales ni dans les Ophiures, 

 semble rapprocher les Comatules de certaines Medusaires." {Op. cit. torn. ii. p. 532.) 

 This mistake is the more remarkable, as he expresses surprise at not finding the mouth 

 (where it actuallj is) at the point of convergence of the furrows which pass from the rays 

 along the ventral surface of the disk : — " Ce sillon, neanmoins, no s'approche point de la 

 bouche, et ne vient point s'y reunir, comme cela a lieu pour la gouttiere des rayons dans 

 les Asteries." He states, on the authority of Peron, that the Comatulte habitually cling 

 to Fuci or Zoophytes by their dorsal cirrhi, and spread out their rays in search of 

 prey ; and he goes on to aflRrm that they lay hold of this with their " grands rayons 

 pinnes," and bring it to the mouth with their "rayons simples inferieurs." "What he 

 means by the last-named organs, I do not feel able to determine with certainty, since 

 the " rayons simples " of his generic definition are " dorsaux " not " inferieurs ; " and I 

 am inclined to suppose that he attributes this function to the pinnules springing from 

 the basal joints of the arms, which, as he correctly remarks, are " allongees et abaissces 

 sous le ventre." I feel confident, from obsei-vation of the habits of the living animal, 

 that these pinnules are no more employed in the prehension of food than are the prin- 

 cipal arms ; and I am incHned (as will hereafter appear, § 13) to regard that peculiarity of 

 their character and disposition, which Lamarck was the first to notice, as connected with 

 the sensorial protection of the oral orifice. 



In this edition we still find Lamarck ranking the Crixoidea among Polypes ; though 

 he separates them, together Avith Pennatula, UmbelMaria, &c., into a distinct group, 

 that of Polypi natantes. He speaks without hesitation of their ramified arms as bearing 

 polypes arranged in rows (!), and remarks that they are especially distinguished from 

 Pennatidw and other genera of the order of floating Polypes by the articulated structure 

 of the stem and branches. " Les Encrines," he says {op. cit. p. 434), " se rapprochent 

 de rOmbellulaire par leur ombelle terminale et polypifere ; mais leur tige et leur rameaux 

 articules, cnfin la disposition des Polypes qui forment des rangees sur les rameaux de 

 Tombellc, les en distingucnt fortement." It is singular that so eminent a Naturalist 

 could have committed himself to a misstatement of fact so extraordinary as that just cited. 

 ■ The publication of Lamarck's work was very soon followed by that of the first edition 

 (1817) of the 'Regno Animal' of Cuvier, in which the Crinoidea are included (after 



