1S82.] CLASSIFICATION OF THE COMATUL^. 737 



of Ant. rosacea and Ant. eschrichti, or with the second brachials of 

 Act. Jtmbriata and Act. multiradiata. 



In the case of Act. typica, the employment of a shorthand has 

 been carried to such an extent by Prof. Bell, that he only makes pro- 

 vision for 20 out of the 80 or more arms that the species possesses. 

 The P which is inserted into the formula for Act. novce-guinece is 

 here omitted, and only two of the axillaries taken into consideration 

 at all. Nevertheless the rays have been described by myself as 

 dividing seven or eight times ; i. e. there may be no less than five 

 axillaries beyond the palmars, all united by syzygy to the preceding 

 joints as the palmar axillaries are ; while Loven ^ has figured a spe- 

 cimen with two axillaries beyond the palmars and has described the 

 species as having 80 arms. Prof. Bell's formula, however, (1 A'RD-) 

 takes no account of any palmars at all, much less of any thing beyond 

 them, although Loven says " Rami secundi quatuor, Una paria, 

 e brachialibus duobus," and goes on to speak oirami tertii, quarti, and 

 quinti ; but the presence of the D and nothing more in Prof. Bell's 

 formula indicates that the total number of arms is never more than 

 20 and may be only 1 1 ! 



It will be evident from the classification detailed above, that the 

 essential character common to all the seven species of group B is 

 the union of the second and third ra dials by ligaments and not by a 

 syzygy as in the three species of group A. Nevertheless five of 

 the seven formulae given by Prof. Bell contain an R, which denotes 

 that the radial axillary "is a syzygy." He surely cannot imagine 

 that the radial axillaries which are united by hgament to the second 

 radials are themselves syzygial joints as the distichal axillaries are. 

 I have described the form of the axillaries in each of these five 

 species, but have not said one word about their being syzygial joints. 

 Such a condition, i. e. syzygial axillaries united by ligaments to the 

 second radials, occurs in no Comatula with which I am acquainted. 



Neither are the axillaries united to the second radials by syzygy, 

 as in Act. Solaris and the other species of Grroup A, the formulae 

 for all of which contain an R. It is therefore difficult to understand 

 why the formulae for five of the species of group B should contain 

 an E which is absent from those of the two remaining species. I 

 can think of no reason for this except that in the diagnoses of these 

 five species I have spoken of the "first ray- division " as consisting 

 of three joints, the axillary with a syzygy. Prof. Bell, who appears 

 to consider the primary number of rays as 10, and not five, as de- 

 scribed by Miiller and myself, has perhaps understood the term 

 "first ray-division" to mean the five undivided rays themselves, 

 which consist of the first, second, and third (axillary) radials. I 

 had hoped that this expression coming immediately after the state- 

 ment " the rays (in the Miillerian sense) dividing " 2, ,3, or more 

 times, and preceded by the description of the radial axillary where 

 the division occurs, would be interpreted as meaning the ten primary 

 arms which are borne by the axillaries and are themselves con- 



> Ofv. af. K. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1866, p. 230. 



49* 



