Echinoderm-Fauna of Ceylon. 225 
CRINOIDEA. 
19. Antedon, sp. 
Indications, the first within my knowledge, of a Comatulid 
from Ceylon are presented by a specimen with thirty-nine 
arms, only a few cirri, with about thirteen joints, the penul- 
timate spine obsolete ; with syzygies on the axillary disti- 
chal, axillary palmar, and third brachial; the next syzygy is 
on the eleventh brachial. The absence of a terminal comb 
from the proximal cirri induces me to suppose that the species 
belongs to the genus Antedon; and it would appear to be still 
undescribed ; the dried condition of the specimen and the 
possession of only a single example forbid my describing it 
fully, or giving it a fresh specific name. I have urged on 
Dr. Ondaatje the advisability of preserving Crinoids in spirits; 
and I have little doubt that when he next brings or sends us 
a collection from Ceylon there will be some very interesting 
representatives of this ancient order. 
It will be seen that Dr. Ondaatje has succeeded in obtain- 
ing an example from every group of the Echinodermata, with 
the exception of the Holothuroidea ; and of these he hopes to 
make a collection on another occasion. 
It will next be seen that a collection from Point de Galle, 
ranging thus over four classes, presents us with nothing new, 
except probably a Crinoid; the conditions of existence of a 
Crinoid with a fixed larva are so different from those of such 
other Echinodermata as have free-swimming embryos that 
nothing common to the two can justly be said. 
Confining ourselves, then, to the other three classes, we ob- 
serve that, as indeed we might have expected, the forms 
represented in this collection have all an exceedingly wide 
range; if we limit ourselves to the consideration of the single 
fact that Mauritius, Zanzibar, or the Mosambique are known 
stations in the area of distribution of all or nearly all the 
species, we shall see the point which is most forcibly urged 
by this collection. In the examination of the problems 
of geographical distribution, the homely fact of the presence 
of a powerful current must not be overlooked; and the recog- 
nition of its existence may sometimes save those who make a 
scientific use of their imagination from the necessity for feats 
of intellectual activity which, however remarkable when exhi- 
bited within the narrow arena of the students of a single group, 
are not always found to be acceptable to a wider audience. 
