Mr. F. J. Bell on the Oenus Asterias. 167 



etc., ist nacli Linck die erste sjsteraatisclie Arbeit von Wich- 

 tigkeit, nnd, in Beziehnng auf Beschreibung von Arten, 

 eigentlich die einzige iiltere von Wertli. Sic ist so gut wie 

 vollig unbekannt, von keinem Schriftsteller citirt, imd die 

 Citate der Scliriften beziehen sicli bloss auf seine iiltere 

 Abliandlung in den Scliriften der schwedisclien Aeademie." 



But, now, is this dissertation by Betzius at all ? Not, 

 at anj rate, so far as the title will allow us to judge. If, 

 instead of copying Miiller and Troschel, or consulting a 

 bibliographical vv^ork, we go to the original itself, Vv-e iind the 

 title to be '' Dissertatio sistens species cognitas Asteriarum. . . 

 Quam, consentiente Ampliss. Ord. Philos. sub Praesidio D. 

 M. And. J. Retzii [here follow eight lines reciting Retzius's 

 dignities] pro Laurea modeste exhibet Ni'colaus Bi-uzelfus, 

 Scanus. In Lyceo Carolino die i Junii MDCCCV. Lundse, 

 Literis Berlingianis." 



If we ascribe an essay with such a title to Betzius, then 

 must we give him such other contributions as were " modestly 

 offered" by Planander in his ' Animadversiones in classem 

 Piscium Linneanam," or Danielssen on Entomology, or 

 Jacobson on the Crocodile, all of which were read during his 

 tenure of the presidential chair. 



One further proof of the position I take up may be offered 

 from the body of the paper itself. After speaking of earlier 

 writers on the subject, the author says, " Non paucas demum 

 post ilium observarunt ac descripserunt 0. F. Miiller et P. C. 

 Abildgaard in Zoologia Danica et Praeses in novis actis Reg. 

 Academ. Scient. Holmensis editis pro anno 1783." In no 

 other than this connexion is the name or assistance of Retzius 

 referred to. 



Had the object of the preceding lines been to bring before 

 the zoological world an essay containing names 'which "would 

 " antedate " those in common use, I should have published 

 them with pain, and I should have suggested whetlier it 

 would not be advisable here as elsewhere to let the dead bury 

 their dead. But this, I am glad to say, is not the object of 

 these lines ; nor have they for any one of their results any 

 alteration of the specific names which have been selected with 

 care and judgment, and with a knowledge of the existence of 

 this dissertation. 



In one or two instances it may relieve us of difficulty. The 

 Ojyhiodeyma longicauda of Miiller and Troschel becomes in 

 Mr. Lyman's "Preliminary List" Ophiura Ice vis ; this 

 specific appellation is used only by Mr. Lyman, wlio has 

 taken it from Rondelet (1554) ; Lamarck called the species 

 lacertosa ; but as Bruzelius (Diss. p. 28) called it longicauda^ 



