116 
the exact identification. It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to 
be able to clear up all the uncertainty in regard to the Copen- 
hagen collections which is evident to any one who studies the 
»Challenger" report. : 
The late Professor C. F. Litken in the course of his work 
upon the echinoderms bestowed manuscript names upon many 
species of comatulids, intending to describe them when opportunity 
offered. Unfortunately, he never found time to do this; he recorded 
a number of these nominal species in the various catalogues published 
by the Godeffroy Museum at Hamburg, together with the localities 
whence the specimens had come, and later several other of the 
names crept into literature, having been found with duplicate 
specimens which had been distributed by the Godeffroy Museum. 
Dr. P. H. Carpenter and Dr. C. Hartlaub have already iden- 
tified most of these species, and have placed Litken's names 
correctly in the synonymy, but there are a few others which have 
not as yet been determined. The presence of duplicates of these 
forms in the collection of the University of Copenhagen has made 
it possible to allocate definitely all of these, so that now we are 
able to state positively to which described species all of Litken's 
nominal species refer. The occurrence of Litken”'s names in the 
catalogue of the Godeffroy Museum was unknown to Dr. Carpenter 
and to Dr. Hartlaub; I have only been able personally to 
consult volume IV, and that portion of volume V published in 
1874; Mr. Walter K. Fisher of Palo Alto, California, has very 
kindly copied out for me the data which he found in that part 
of volume V published in 1877, while Professor Pfeffer of Ham- 
burg, at the request of Dr. Mortensen, has courteously supplied 
the information in regard to the remaining volumes. 
The identification of Litken's nomina nuda is as follows: 
Catalog Museum Godeffroy, Vol. III, October, 1866. 
Actinometra trachygaster...... Comanthus rotalaria (Lam.) 
Idem., Vol. IV, 1869, p. 125. 
Actinometra trachygaster..... . Comanthus rotalaria (Lam.) 
EET EET 
ER REE ERE EET EN 
