480 Mr. F. A. Bather on some 



LV. — Some Alleged Gases of Misrepresentation. 

 By F. A. Bather. 



Messrs. C. Wachsmuth and F. Springer have recently 

 published an important theoretical paper * in which they do 

 me the honour to discuss at length certain arguments con- 

 cerning the anal plates of the Fistulate Crinoids that I 

 advanced in this Magazine f a year ago. In this new paper 

 they put forward views so different to those which they appear 

 to have hitherto held concerning the homologies of various 

 plates in the Crinoid calyx, that to reconsider the anal plates 

 alone would no longer be possible, while a scientific treatment 

 of the question would involve one in a very lengthy and far- 

 reaching discussion. This discussion, the inevitableness of 

 which I foresaw when writing the paper referred to, though I 

 hardly guessed the turn it would take, is better deferred until 

 the description of the Swedish and British Fistulata has been 

 accomplished with some attempt at accuracy. By that time 

 it is quite possible that my American friends may have again 

 changed their front, while I shall certainly be surprised if 

 my own ideas have not undergone some modification. For 

 the present I wish merely to defend myself against certain 

 accusations which, though they have no connexion with the 

 truth or falsity of any theory, could not fail, if left un- 

 answered, to damage my scientific reputation in the eyes of 

 those who have not time to go fully into the subject. 



On p. 325 of my paper on the classification of the Inadunata 

 Fistulata, after giving an abstract of the controversy regarding 

 the anal plate, I said : " The history of this controversy is 

 curiously full of misunderstandings and misrepresentations. 

 I hope that I have made no such mistakes : I have done my 

 best to avoid them." Knowing the great pains that I took in 

 the matter, I the more deeply regret to learn that, in the opinion 

 of Messrs. Wachsmuth and Springer, my references to their 

 writings were "inaccurate" and my representations of their 

 views (i astonishing," " faulty," and " ridiculous." I am 

 sorry, but not altogether surprised, and I console myself with 



* " On the Pevisomic Plates of the Crinoids," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Philadelphia, vol. for 1890, Part III. pp. 345-892. Published Feb. 

 1891. This paper is reviewed in the May number of the 'Geological 

 Magazine,' 1891. 



t " British Fossil Crinoids. — II. Tbe Classification of the Inadunata 

 Fistulata," Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. [0] v. pp. 310-334 and 373-48(5, 

 April and May, 1890. 



