Miscellaneous. 235 



and Troschel in using the term Asteriscus, which in 1703 was defi- 

 nitely proposed for what we must henceforward know as Ansero- 

 poda placenta ? 



4. Porania pulvillus. 



Mr. Sladen (t. c. p. 360) writes 



"Porania pidvillus (0. F. Midler), Norman," 



by which I presume he intends to signify — though various other 

 suggestions have been made to me by skilled zoologists —that Nor- 

 man first put the A. pulvillus of O. F. Miiller into the genus Porania. 

 That is what I imagine this collocation of terms represents ; but I 

 suppose I am wrong, for, as everybody knows, Gray did it in 1848. 



5. Date of Ccelasterias. 



Mr. Sladen (s. v.) writes " Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts& Sci. 

 1871 (1867)," the meaning of which is unintelligible to me. In 1867 

 one hundred and fifty separate copies of Prof. VerrilPs paper were, 

 he states, issued ; the separate copy in the library of the Zoological 

 Department (presented by the author to Dr. Gray) bears date 1867 ; 

 but as it includes a note respecting the fire, which destroyed the 

 publications of the academy and necessitated their being reprinted, 

 dated 1869, it is clear that it was not issued till two years after the 

 date it bears. The matter is only of importance on the ground of 

 accuracy. 



6. Lopliaster furcifer. 



Mr. Sladen gives Chcetaster borealis, 1844 (it should be 1845), in 

 his synonymy, and does not explain why he prefers a name of later 

 date (1846). I presume his reason is the same as mine ; the earlier 

 name is a nomen nudum. 



7. Marginaster. 



Mr. Sladen (Chall. Pep. p. 364) refers to the ' Bulletin ' of the 

 Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. ix. p. 16 ; this is quite unnecessary, as Prof. 

 Perrier does not even pretend to there describe the generic characters 

 of his new form ; the description given three years later (Nouv. 

 Arch. vi. 1884, p. 229) is short enough. 



8. On the Presence of Bare Forms on the East Coast. 



Dr. Norman stated in his well-known paper (' Annals,' xv. 1865) 

 that Anseropoda placenta descends the east coast as far as the 

 Moray Firth ; Mr. Sim has sent it to the British Museum from Aber- 

 deen. Similarly Porania pulvillus, stated by Dr. Norman to be 

 " wholly absent on the east," has been sent us from Boss-shire by 

 Dr. Sutherland. I should be glad to hear of other localities on 

 our eastern shores whence collectors have obtained these two forms, 

 or, indeed, of other species of Echinoderms rare to the North Sea. 



