92 Forty- FOURTH Report on the State Museum. 



goniata, was a large cephalon of a trilobite with bases of conspicuous 

 spines upon the occipital ring. That the author figured the specimen 

 in an inverted position, and regarded the occipital spines as antennae, 

 does not in the least affect the value of this very appropriate generic 

 term. Barrande* recognized the priority of Warder's description, 

 and stated that the term would be entitled to adoption by palaeontolo- 

 gists were it not that de Candolle had previously made use of the 

 name Geratocephalus for a genus of plants. Though the two words 

 have the same origin, this fact need not at all affect the validity of 

 both, more especially since they have been used in different depart- 

 ments of natural history, where there is not the slightest possibility 

 of their being confounded. Furtherpaore, it has been stated by 

 Captain Vogdes f that de Candolle's name is no longer recognized 

 by botanists, but has been absorbed into the genus Ranunculus. If 

 this be the case, it may serve to fortify the later term, though not 

 materially, for it is perhaps more than likely that de Candolle's term 

 will eventually be resuscitated with a restricted value. For us, how- 

 ever, the existence of de Candolle's term does not in the least affect 

 the value of that of Warder, as the two words are different. 



Prior to the use of term CERAT0CEr:eALA no distinctive name had 

 been applied to these Crustacea. Dalman J and Hisinger § had men- 

 tioned them under the name Paradoxides; Acidaspis, Murchison, 

 Odontopleura, Emmrich, Polyeres, Eouault, Trapelocera, Belenopeltis, 

 Corda, Dicranurus, Aoantholoma, Conrad, terms which have been 

 applied to species of the same group, are all of later date. As a 

 generic term in its broader sense, that is, in the meaning with which 

 Acidaspis is now applied, Ceratocephala, must take the precedence of 

 all the rest. II 



Conceding the prior right of this early American writer, we have 

 still before us an interesting inquiry as to whether some of the names 

 subsequently proposed have not a positive value as titles of subsidiary 

 groups. 



Ceratocephala was founded on the species G.goniata, Warder, 

 which, according to the author was found " in the same locality with 

 the Calymene Blumenbachii, bufo ? phylactainoides, and other rare 



♦Systeme Silurien, vol. 1, p. 693. 



t Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1877. 



t Arsberat. om ny zool. arbet. och upptackt. p. 135, 1828. 



§ Lethaea Sveeica, p. 12, 1837. 



II The only writer who has urged the claims of Warder's term is Captain A.W. Vodges, 

 In the paper already cited in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy for 1877. 

 ("Notes on the genera Acidaspis, Odontopleura, and Oeratocephala.") In his recent 

 valuable "Bibliography of Palaeozoic Crustacea" {Bulletin No. 63, U. S. Geological 

 Survey) Captain Yodges has. however, retained the name Acidaspis. 



