J 882.] Zoology. 55 



to those of the tapir and Lophiodon; but this qualification does 

 not really invalidate the supposed affinities between the Sirenia 

 and the hippopotamus. For the Artiodactyla and the Perissodac- 

 tyla are probably offshoots of a common stock, and hence we may 

 expect to find in these two groups certain characters common to 

 both, inherited from their Lophiodon and Coryphodon-like ances- 

 tors. The affinities of the teeth of the manatee with those of the 

 tapir — the first an embryonic Artiodactyle, the second a generalized 

 Perissodactyle — would be examples of the above view. I do not 

 mean to imply that the manatee has necessarily descended directly 

 from the hippopotamus, though extinct intermediate forms may 

 in the future show this to be so, for possibly they may be the de- 

 may appear mere waste of time, we being unable, from the nature 

 of the case, td experimentally prove or disprove the truth of the 

 hypothesis advanced. It seems to me, however, that the only 

 explanation of the structure of the living forms and of the petrified 

 remains of the animals referred to in these observations, is the hy- 

 pothesis of there being some generic connection between them." 



Verrillia blakei or Haltpteris blakei.— In the San Fran- 

 cisco Mining and Scientific Press, of August 9th, 1873, I pub- 

 lished a " Description of a new species of Alcyonoid Polyp, which 

 I placed in Cuvier's genus Pavonaria, and gave to it the specific 

 name of blakei, in recognition of the courtesy of Dr. James Blake, 

 who kindly furnished the specimens to describe. Subsequently, 

 nine days after the publication of the first description as above, at 

 a meeting of the California Academy of Sciences, held on the 1 8th 

 day of August, I removed the species to a new sub-genus which 

 I called Verrillia, in honor of Professor Verrill, of Yale College. 



The characters of this sub-genus were defined as follows : 

 " Polypidon linear-elongate, round or ovate in cross section. 

 Axis round, slender, bony; polyps arranged in two unilateral 

 longitudinal series." 



In Nature for November 6th, 1873, Dr. J. E. Gray, in an article 

 entitled, "On the stick fish (Osteocella septentri naUs\ and the 

 habits of the sea pens," endeavored to make it appear that his 

 genus and species, should have precedence, or the names so given 

 by him should stand instead of mine, and gave what he called 

 " the synonyma of these animals." presenting the sequence of dates 

 of publication of the various papers, to show the priority of his 



To this communication of Dr. Gray's I replied in a paper read 

 before the California Academy of Sciences on the 1 6th of March, 

 1874. in which I reviewed the claims of Dr. Gray and his genus 

 and species Osh clla u *tt t n 1 \ and domed the validit\ th "ro- 

 of, on the ground that "No description sufficiently accurate to be 

 worthy of consideration can be made of the axial rods or bones 

 alone, of this class of animal forms, nor can species be satisfac- 



