AND ITS RELATIONS TO KECENT COMATT7L.E. 189 



of external basals. Subsequently, however, Miiller gave up the 

 genus Comaster (and Solanocrinus with it), chiefly because he had 

 examined several species of free Crinoids without ever finding one 

 with external basals*. But Roomer t, a few years later, while 

 uniting Solanocrinus and Comaster, retained the latter name as 

 designating a type, distinct from Comatula with no external basals. 

 About the same time d'Orbigny J threw all these three, together 

 with "Glenocrinus, Groldf." (i. e. Glenotremites), into one genus, 

 to which he assigned Lamarck's name Comatula : — " Nous y con- 

 servons les espeees pourvues de cinq petites pieces basales, entre 

 les cinq pieces brachiales et la piece centrale epaisse, portant dix 

 series de ramules egales. Cinq bras bifurques une ou plusieurs fois. 

 Le calice mal observe par M. Groldfuss a servi a l'etablissement 

 de ses genres Glenocrinus {sic) et Solanocrinus,'''' 



D'Orbigny was rather hard on Goldfuss in accusiug him of 

 incorrect observation. As both of his specimens of Glenotremites 

 consisted of the centrodorsal piece only (neither with ten rows of 

 cirrhus-sockets), he could hardly have been expected to describe 

 basals which he did not see. Lundgren § has already pointed out 

 that their presence was assumed by d'Orbigny, who, on the evi- 

 dence before him, might, with equal justice, have referred Gleno- 

 tremites to his next genus Decameros, by which he meant Deca- 

 cnemus, Linck. He characterized this type by the absence of 

 external basals; and to it he should have referred Lamarck's 

 genus Comatula, as he did the Antedon of de Preminville and the 

 Alecto of Leach. All the species of Comatula described by 

 Lamarck are devoid of external basals, as d'Orbigny could have 

 determined by a personal examination of them. For some unex- 

 plained reason, however, he referred them to Comatula as Tie de- 

 fined it, namely with external basals. 



D'Orbigny 's peculiar redistribution of generic names was 

 partly followed by Pictet||, who regarded Glenotremites as dis- 

 tinct and as presenting " special characters." He proposed a 

 modification of d'Orbigny's nomenclature, in that he would retain 



* " Ueber die Gattnng Comatula, Lam., und ihre Arten," Separat-Abdruck aus 

 den Abbandl. d. Berlin. Akad. 1849, p. 8 (244). 



t Letbsea Geognostica, iii te Auflage, 1851, Tbeil iv. p. 133, & Tbeil v. p. 177. 



\ 'Cours element, de Paleontol. et de Geol. stratigraph.' 1850-52, vol. ii. (i.) 

 p. 138. 



§ " Om en Comaster ocb en Aptychus fran Kopinge," Ofversigt af Kongl. 

 Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forbandlingar, 1874, No. 3, p. 64, note. 



|| ' Traite de Paleontologie,' vol. iv. p. 288. 



15* 



