Mr. H. J. Carter on the Antipatharia. 303 



precedence in nomenclature by applying a new term to an 

 already named object, it is possible that I am not so in ascri- 

 bing to it a Hydroid nature. 



Hence comes the question, whether Antipathes ought not to 

 be considered a genus of the Hydractiniidse. Certainly 

 Ellis's figure of the supposed polyp before mentioned is much 

 more like that of a Hydrozoon than of an Actinozoon. But 

 here again priority steps in, and Pallas can claim the right of 

 having first used the term " Antipathes " for this Ccelenterate ; 

 so that, complying with this obligation, the whole family 

 instead of being called " Hydractiniidge," would have to be 

 called u Antipathidse," or some such word, thus sacrificing 

 a name which carries with it the meaning of the objects it 

 represents to one which has no significance at all, at least at 

 the present day, when things, if possible, are named after their 

 " nature " rather than their resemblances. 



I do not know who first pointed out the likeness of some 

 of the polyps to Hydra in contradistinction to those which are 

 more allied in their structure to Actinia ; but both Ehrenberg 

 and De Blainville appear to have been conscious of the dis- 

 tinction; for the latter in 1834 stated that Ehrenberg's Bryo- 

 zoa correspond a a peu de choses pres a nos Polypiaires" 

 (Actinologie, p. 682), and les Polypiaires (Polypiaria) are 

 designated by De Blainville as " animaux hydriformes " 

 (p. 399), of which the first family is " Millepora." But it is 

 to Prof. Huxley that we are mainly indebted for the use of 

 the term " Hydrozoa" (in 1859, Ray Soc. Publ.), after- 

 wards clearly defined and illustrated by him, in contradistinc- 

 tion to the Actinozoa, in his ' Introduction to the Classification 

 of Animals ' (1869, pp. 21-24). Latterly the appropriate 

 term " Hydrocorallime " has been proposed for the stony 

 Hydrozoa by Mr. H. N. Moseley, F.R.S. (Phil. Trans, 

 vol. clxvii. pt. 1, 1877, p. 132) ; and thus by degrees the 

 Hydroid are being separated throughout from the Actinozoid 

 forms of the Ccelenterata. 



May we hope that there are some well-preserved specimens 

 of Antipathes among the ' Challenger ' collections ? for it is 

 only by such, or by examining them in their living state in 

 their native element, that we shall ever know what the nature 

 of the polyp is, viz. whether Hydroid or Actinozoid. This 

 has been well exemplified in two specimens of Hydractinia 

 echinata on whelks (Buccinum undatum) which were brought 

 to me alive, one of which I dried, while the other, with its 

 poiyps fully expanded in its own element, was plunged in 

 this state into spirit and water, — in which instances the for- 

 mer, from the extreme tenuity of the sarcodic investment. 



21* 



