308 COLLYRITES 



About the same time M. Agassiz^ was actively engaged in collecting materials for his 

 great work on the Echinodermata, and in the course of 1836 appeared his Prodrome,* in 

 which an important reform was proposed in the arrangement of that class, and 

 many new genera were therein described for the first time ; among these, was the genus 

 Disaster, which nearly corresponded to the genus Collyrites of Desmoulins. The pub- 

 lication of this work formed an era in the History of the Echinidse, and the author's 

 classification and nomenclature was soon adopted by the naturalists of England, France, 

 and Germany. In a note appended to the first page of the Prodrome, it was stated, that 

 the memoir had been read before the Society of Natural Sciences at Neufchatel, on the 

 10th of January, 1834,t which gave the Prodrome an apparent priority to the Memoires of 

 M. Desmoulins, and thus the genus Disaster, Agass. was adopted to the exclusion of the 

 genus Collyrites, Desml. A closer investigation into the question of priority, however, 

 showed that the memoir of M. Desmoulins was published in August, 1835. The Prodrome 

 of M. Agassiz had been read in 1834, but was not pubhshed until July, 1836. In the 

 interval which had elapsed between the reading and publication of the memoir, M. 

 Agassiz had introduced into his work many important modifications, so much so, that the 

 work published in 1836, was no longer the work which had been read in 1834 ; according, 

 therefore, to the laws of nomenclature, the date of publication, and not that of the reading 

 of a paper, after subsequent alterations and modifications, must serve to decide disputed 

 points of priority in all questions affecting the natural history sciences. 

 In contending for the priority of his genus, M. Desmoulins | says — 

 " Le Prodrome de M. Agassiz a ete public en 1836, dans le Y^ tome des 'Memoires 

 de la Societe d'Histoire Naturelle de Neuchatel :' j'ai done un an d'anteriorite sur lui. II 

 est vrai que ce Prodrome, d'apres une note placee a la premiere page, a ete lu le 10 

 Janvier, 1834, a la ' Societie d'Hist. Nat. de Neufchatel,' ce qui semblerait, dans un 

 certain sens, faire tourner I'anteriorite au profit de M. Agassiz ; mais comme, dans ce 

 travail, M. Agassiz adopte aux genres etablis par M. Gray eti 1835 (pubhes d'apres les 

 renseignemens que j'ai pu recueillir en Octobre, 1835), il s'ensuit : 1" Que le travail de 

 M. Agassiz n'a pas pu etre, en 1836, imprime tel qu'il avait ete lu en 1834, et que 

 des details de genres et d'especes ayant ete modifies entre la lecture et I'impression, 

 celle-ci seule prend une date authentique pour les noms de genres. 2^ que j'ai une 

 anteriorite d'un an sur le genre Disaster de M. Agassiz, et une anteriorite de deux mois 

 sur YArbacia de M. Gray. Done j'ai pu et dii conserver ma propre nomenclature, comme 

 la plus ancienne. J'avais soumis cette question, avec tons ses details, a un juge eclaire, 

 parfaitement expert en ces sortes de matieres, et j'ai agi d'apres la decision motivee. 



These historical facts are sufficient to justify the restoration of genus Collyrites, Desml. 



* ' Prodrome d'une Monographie des Radiaires ou Echinodermes,' dans le premier tome des 'Memoires 

 de la Societe des Sciences Naturelies de Neufchatel,' 1836. 



t ' Memoires de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Neufchatel,' tome i, p. 168. 

 ^ X ' Etudes sur les Echinides,' premiere Memoire, p. 207. 



