THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[SIXTH SERIES.] 



" per litora epargite museum. 



Naiades, et circimi vitreos considite fontes ; 

 PoUice virgineo teneros hie carpite floras : 

 Floribus et pictum. divse, replete canistrum. 

 At vos, o NymphsB Craterides, ite sub undas ; 

 Ite, recurvato variata corallia trunco 

 Veilite muscosis e rupibus, et mihi conchas 

 Ferte, Deae pelagi, et pingui conchy lia suoco." 



N.ParthenUGiannettasU Eel, I. 



No. 31. JULY 1890. 



I. — On certain Points in the Anatomical Nomenclature of 

 Echinoderms. By P. Herbert Carpenter, D.Sc, F.R.S., 

 F.L.S., Assistant Master at Eton College. 



The object of the following paper is to put in a plea for a 

 greater precision of nomenclature in works on Echinoderm 

 morphology tlian has been hitherto adopted by many authors, 

 more especially those who have made incidental rather than 

 special studies in some branch of Echinoderm research. 

 Many of them are justly distinguished in other lines of scien- 

 tific work ; but, owing to their imperfect acquaintance with 

 the current Echinoderm literature, a vagueness and inaccuracy 

 of nomenclature have crept into their writings in a manner 

 which is both perplexing to the student and vexatious to the 

 specialist. 



I refer more especially to the frequent use of the same term 

 for two or more structures which are not mutually homolo- 

 gous*, while, on the other hand, there are some cases in 



* Since writing the above lines I have come across the following re- 

 marks by Herouard on the same subject: — " Ce sont la des questions de 

 ■detail, il est vrai, mais sur lesquelles j'insiste a dessein, car ces denomi- 

 nations identiques attribuees par les differents auteurs et meme parfois, 

 comme je viens de le dire, par un seul et meme auteur, a des organes 



An7u & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. vi. 1 



