472 
Prof. F. J. Bell on the 
Quelques exemplaires seulement ont mis en vente, aussi 
l’ouvrage est il devenu rare et presque introuvable. Je n’en 
ai qu’un seul exernplaire ce qui m’empeche de vous l’envoyer, 
mais je vous adresse la planche relative a V Eb alia nux qui 
pourra vous 6tre utile. . . .” 
This sufficiently accounts for the fact that there is no copy 
of this work in the library of the Natural History Museum 
nor yet in the library either of the Royal, or Linnean, or 
Zoological Society. So that, under the circumstances, I think 
I can hardly be blamed for not having seen it. 
LVII. — On the Generic Name of Asterias sanguinolenta, 
0 . F . Muller . By F. Jeffrey Bell. 
For more than thirty years the common blood-red starfish of 
the North-European seas has, by general consent, been called 
Cribrella sanguinolenta (or G. oculata by some who ought to 
know better). Internal evidence too often shows that u syn- 
onymy ” is synonymous with u copying ; ” so perhaps this 
general consent only means that one of those who have 
written on the subject during the last thirty years has had the 
opportunity of consulting Dr. Liitken’s valuable works. Mr. 
Sladen, who may be complimented on the meaning he is able 
to put into a couple of brackets, seems to have had some 
original doubts, for he writes in his massive 1 Challenger } 
Report (p. 540) 
^ Genus Cribrella (Agassiz), Forbes,” 
which, being u writ large,” means, I presume, this generic 
name was invented by Agassiz and appropriated by Forbes; 
and if it does mean that, it expresses, in a very succinct 
manner, a perfectly correct statement. 
When, however, one finds a man with what look like 
stolen goods one is apt to make a searching inquiry into his 
title. Do this in the present case and you get a disastrous 
result ! 
Agassiz wrote (Mem. Soc. Neuchatel, i. (1835), p. 191) : — 
u 5. Linkia, Nardo. — Cribrella , Ag. Msc.” 
This clearly means, u what Nardo in 1834 called Linkia I 
(Agassiz) have, in MSS., called Cribrella ; ” and the two 
terms were in Agassiz’s estimation equivalent. 
How are cases of this kind to be dealt with ? The rules 
of the British Association declare that u a later name of the 
