498 PROF. F. J. BELL ON THE GENUS ASTERIAS. [May 3, 



It will be of interest to institute a comparison between the two 

 lists here given and that of M. Perrier. Here we find altogether 

 the not inconsiderable number of one hundred and eleven specific 

 appellations ; and of this only thirty-five are to be found in the 

 second or synonymic list. M. Perrier describes all together forty-nine 

 species ; and when we look through his synonymy, we find that all 

 together he makes mention of sixty-eight names. The proportion 

 of accepted to synonymous terms is therefore almost exactly the same 

 in the two lists. This is, I must say, a somewhat painful state of 

 things; for I am inclined to regard an increase in the number of 

 proved synonyms as a not unfair proof of advance in our knowledge 

 of the forms described. 



Advance of knowledge has, however, so far taken place since the 

 publication of Perrier's ' Revision,' that our knowledge of the Arctic 

 fauna and of that of the more southern seas has been somewhat 

 increased, while the critical remarks of Verrill have somewhat re- 

 duced the number of species which, named by Valenciennes or by 

 himself, M. Perrier had regarded as undescribed. 



Comparatively lately (1878) Prof. Perrier has published an essay 

 on the Geographical Distribution of the Starfishes, in the ' Nouvelles 

 Archives du Museum ' (2'"'' ser.) ; and in the nearly complete list of 

 species which he there gives, he enumerates eighty-two species in the 

 genus Asterias, or five more than are named in the list just given. 

 This new list moreover contains the names of seven species not 

 detailed by M. Perrier, viz. : — A. mollis of Studer {studeri of Bell) ; 

 A. perrieri, E. Smith ; A.fulgens, Philippi ; and A. alba, brandti, 

 neglecta, and obtusi- spinosa oi ^e\\. 



On the other hand, M. Perrier's list contains the following, which, 

 as I think, have been demonstrated by Verrill to be synonymous of 

 names already entered, viz. A. arenicola, A. borealis, A. fabricii, 

 A. pallida, and A. stimpsoni. A. madeirensis I have shown to be 

 synonymous with A. webbiana ; A. globifera will be placed witli 

 Uniophora : A. wilkinsoni and A. aster of Gray I cannot, as I 

 have already said, even pretend to recognize. A. jehennesi would 

 appear to be the same as A. calamaria. 



Like M. Perrier, I retain in the lists the name of A. bootes, "k 

 cause de I'autorite de ses auteurs ;" but as the type is lost or unknown, 

 the species will probably always be — what it has already been called, 

 one of the " mysteries of Paris." 



Of late years the only catalogue of the genus which claimed to be 

 complete was published by MM. Dujardin and Hupe ; it details, 

 however, only thirty-seven species, of which nine have, with the 

 progress of our knowledge, been since referred to other generic 

 divisions. 



This brief review will, I think, be sufficient to afford evidence of 

 the pressing necessity of a closer and more critical study of the 

 constituent species ; what now will follow is to be regarded as a 

 preliminary attempt to make some sort of introduction to a work 



