(JOO MR J. W. GREGORY ON THE MALTESE FOSSIL ECHINOIDEA. 



molassa). Austria — Gross Hoflein, Oedenburg; Zirknitz, Styria, both in Leithakalk 

 (Tortonian). 



Remarks. — Professor G. C. Laube, trusting to Dr Wright's identification of the last 

 species, figured as Conoclypeus plagiosomus, Ag. " Teste Wright," as he cautiously added — 

 a specimen from the Austrian Leithakalk. His figures, which are very expressive, show 

 that while it belongs to the same genus as the last, a new species must be made for it : 

 it is more conical, the apical disc is more anterior, while the shape is pentagonal, and 

 widest near the posterior end. There is a large specimen from the Earl of Ducie's 

 collection from Malta, which no doubt belongs to this species, though, as the actinal 

 surface is not preserved, this cannot be decided with certainty. 



Family ECHINONEIDJE. 



Genus Amblypygus. 



Species Amblypygus melitensis, Wright, 1864. 



T. Wright, 1864, " Foss. Echin. Malta," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, xx. pp. 482, 483, pi. xxi. f. 3. 



Type.— Brit. Mus., E. 1580. 



Distribution. — Malta — Upper Coralline Limestone. 



Family CASSIDULID^E. 



Genus Breynella, nov. nom. 



In 1855, Dr Wright described a species which he named Pygorhynchus vasali: in 

 1864, he gave a couple of figures of the species, and that of the actinal surface showed 

 the absence of the bare median band characteristic of the genus Pygorhynchus. M. 

 Desor had previously transferred the species to the genus then known as Echinanthus, 

 and an examination of the specimen shows the correctness of his opinion. This, there- 

 fore, compels a consideration of the questions connected with the different use of the 

 term Echinanthus in neontology and palaeontology. At present many neontologists 

 follow Professor A. Agassiz in using Echinanthus for the tumid Clypeasters, while most 

 European palaeontologists apply it to a genus of Cassiduloidea. The question aptly 

 illustrates the difficulty accompanying the adoption of pre-Linnean genera ; Echinanthus 

 was first used by Breynius for all Echinoidea with a central or subcentral mouth, and a 

 marginal or submarginal anus. This definition covered the majority of the irregular 

 Echiuoidea, and Breynius figures as belonging to the genus a collection of species 

 now distributed among Echinolampas, Pygorhynchus, and Cassidulus, while his refer- 

 ences include Clypeaster and Echinanthus (sensu A. Agassiz). The name was first 

 used among post-Linnean authors by Leske, who apparently took as his type his 

 figure of Echinanthus humilis — a synonym, at least in the main, of Echinus rosaceus, 



