8 Echin . 
XIV. ECHIN ODERM A. 
Bather (156), the new genera of Crinoidea are all fossil—indeed Palaeo¬ 
zoic—and are divided between Jaekel (134) & Springer (266). The 
latter paper is a much needed revision of the several genera of Flexibilia 
vnvpinnata , but is preliminary to a fuller monograph, and perhaps for this 
reason the establishment of some of the new genera is not so precise as 
might be wished: the names are Leiocrinus , Oligocrinus, Parichthyocrinus , 
Temnocrinus , and Wachsmuthicrinus. Jaekel’ s paper is a contribution to 
the philosophy of evolution, and is not the place in which one expects to 
find the names of new genera and species introduced ; but if their intro¬ 
duction be a necessity, the new conceptions should be supported by 
something better than a casual allusion with, perhaps, an outline diagram. 
Of the names thus foisted on systematists, Prodrornocrinus is certainly 
a nomen nudum , while Metabolocrinus is little better; Promelocrinus 
anglicus is doubtful, and Perittocrinus is for the present a genus without 
a species. 
For the rest there are only the papers of Beede, Remes and Rowley 
already referred to under III. B. Actinometra iowensis described by 
Springer (265), not from Iowa but from Florida, is distinguished by the 
persistence of covering-plates on the arms. AVeller (295) refers some 
species of North American Cyathocrinus to Crotalocrinus. 
Under Cyst idea, including Edrioasteroidea , there is nothing of im¬ 
portance, but in Blastoidea there are several new species described in the 
above mentioned papers by Rowley. 
In estimating the value of the following analysis, it should be re¬ 
membered that many of the names both of alleged new genera and species 
have already been recognised as either synonyms or homonyms. One has 
also to reckon with the extreme difficulty, in many cases, of deciding 
whether a name be new or no. If authors would only add the signs 
“ n. g.” or “ n. sp.” to their new genera and species, while refraining from 
attaching them to genera and species that they have previously described, 
the task of the Recorder would be greatly lightened and less confusion 
would be introduced into nomenclature; but this again is a protest that 
has been raised ad nauseam. 
New 
genera 
New 
species 
Altered 
specific 
names 
New 
varieties 
Holothurioidea 
2 
6 
0 
0 
Echinoidea 
9 
140 + 4? 
2 
17 
Asteroidea 
0 
4 
0 
3 
Ophiuroidea 
3 
13 
0 
0 
Crinoidea 
9 +1 n. n. 
26 
0 
1 
Cystidea 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Blastoidea 
0 
7 
0 
6 
Total 
23 + 1 n. n. 
196 + 4? 
2 
27 
