on the Polyzoa. 95 



Smitt, and Cribrilina, Gray. He contends that this family 

 has no claim to stand, as it is incorrectly defined (" mal 

 de'finie "), and accordingly he has cancelled it and substituted 

 for it his family Costulidees, from which, as he defines it, the 

 genus Membraniporella is excluded. The capital error there- 

 fore in my definition of the Cribriline family, according to 

 Dr. Jullien, is that I have made it wide enough to contain 

 the latter genus. For this he condemns and abolishes it. 



Now even if his view were correct, which 1 hope to show 

 that it is not, it is more than questionable whether there 

 would be any sufficient ground for displacing a well-established 

 family name and adding a new one to our already overbur- 

 thened nomenclature. Usage is certainly against the course 

 which Dr. Jullien has taken; and though the common practice 

 may not be absolutely the best, it may be wiser to recognize 

 it than to unsettle our nomenclature and enlarge the weari- 

 some synonymy which is the reproach of systematic natural 

 history. In the present case, if Dr. Jullien's view were 

 correct, the retention of the family with an amended diagnosis, 

 accompanied by a proper notification of the change, would do 

 no wrong to the author of it and would certainly be in the 

 intei'est of the student*. 



But it is unnecessary to discuss this question here, as I am 

 not prepared to admit that the genus Membraniporella is an 

 alien in the Cribriline family. Dr. Jullien refers it to the 

 Membraniporidai. He says, " Cependant les Membrani- 

 porella sont encore des Membraniporidees, toutes leurs especes 

 n'ont pas leurs epines absolument soudees sur la ligne 

 me*diane de la zooecie : ce qui les differencie enormement des 

 Cribrilina, ou la soudure est non seulement complete sur la 

 ligne mediane, mais ou on voit encore de petits trabecules, qui 

 soudent entre elles les epines principales. Les Membranipo- 

 rella sont les Membraniporidees les plus elevees, et ne doivent 

 peut-&tre pas etre detachers de cette famille " ('Les Costu- 

 lidees,' pp. 1, 2). 



Upon this 1 remark first of all that I cannot assent to Dr. 

 Jullien's statement that there are species of Membraniporella 

 in which the (modified) spines are not soldered together alono- 

 the median line. The type of Smitt's genus is Membrani- 



* In support of his view Dr. Jullien has adduced an aggravated case 

 in which names have heen changed and misapplied in defiance of all law 

 and custom (' Mission Sc. du Cap Horn,' Bryoz. p. 4). For such there is 

 nothing to be said. But to deal with such cases and others of the same 

 class, and to revise our system in harmony with Br. Jullien's dictum " un 

 genre doit rester tel qu'il a 6te etabli par son auteur," would be to revo- 

 lutionize the nomenclature of the Polyzoa, and it is more than probable 

 that we should find the cure to be worse than the disease. 



