44 DR. p. H. CABPENTEU ON CERTAIN POINTS 



to abandon this position * ; and he now admits that " les 

 odontophores des Asterias ne font done pas partie du calice 

 primitif ; tout au plus poiirrait-on les comparer aux plaques orales 

 des Crinoi'des," as is done by Sladen and myself. 



We have likewise ventured to question the interpretation put 

 by Perrier upon the dorsal epiproctal appendage of Gaulaster and 

 the Astropectinidse, which he regarded as homologous with the 

 stem of a Crinold. He has also given up this view and has adopted 

 the current one, that the crinoid stem is a modification of the 

 preoral lobe of the larval Echinoderm ■\. ^Further on in this same 

 memoir Perrier seems to adopt, though with some reserve, 

 Sladen's theory that the primary radial plates of Asterids remain 

 upon the disk, and are not carried out as the terminals to the 

 ends of the growing arms, as was formerly supposed. But in 

 a still later publication he comes over altogether to our side %. 

 For he describes the calycinal system of Caly caster (n. g.) as 

 consisting of dorsocentral, basals, and radials ; while Proqnaster 

 (n. g.) has infrabasals as well ; aud he adds, " Le squelette du 

 disque est, en eftet, exactement constitue dans ces deux genres 

 comrae le squelette typique d'ua Crinoi'de, et c'est pourquoi 

 nous appellerons calicinales les pieces fondamentales qui le con- 

 stituent." 



It is with much gratification that we have watched the gradual 

 conversion of our distinguished French colleague to our views, 

 as the result of his own investigations of various Starfishes, both 

 larval and adult. I still entertain hopes that both Semon and 

 the Sarasins will adopt them whenever they can find the time for 

 detailed comparisons of the calycinal systems in various larval 

 Echinoderms, and also, but especially Semon, for a more exten- 

 sive study of the literature of the subject. In fact, all the German 

 authors who have recently dealt with this question (Hoernes, 

 Neumayr, the Sarasins, Semon, Steinmann, Stiirtz, and Walther) 

 seem to be more or less imperfectly acquainted with it ; and 

 much has therefore been published which would never have been 



* ' Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn, 1882-1883,' tome vi. Zoologie. fichi- 

 nodermes. I. Stellerides. Paris, 1891, p. 27. 



t Ibid. p. 25. 



t " Sur les Stellerides recueillis dans le Golfe de Gascogne, aux Azores et a 

 Terre-Neuve, pendant les campagnes scientiiiques du yacht ' I'lTirondelle,' " 

 Comptes Kendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 1891, tome cxii. pp. 1225-1228. 



