66 
however, there is no certainty for their being really the type spec- 
imens, such change would be quite unjustified. That there is not 
the slightest foundation for changing the name Oph. texturata into 
Ophiura ophiura is so evident, that one cannot help wondering 
that Clark has ventured to do so. 1 ) 
In the XII. edition of „Syst. naturæ“ (1766, p. 1101) Linnæus 
establishes a species Asterias ciliaris. It is evident that, if this 
species can be recognized with certainty to be the same as our 
O. texturata, this name must be adopted. The diagnosis is not 
much better than that of A. ophiura, running thus: „A. radiata 
imbricata, radiis utrinque ciliatis“. Bell, in „Some Notes on Brit- 
ish Ophiurids“ 2 ) comes to the result that the A. ciliaris is really 
identical with O. texturata, concluding from Linnæus’ reference 
to the figures of Barrelier; „an inspection of the figures of Bar- 
relier shows that what we have called O. ciliata is taken to be 
meant“. Looking up the figures in Barrelier’s work 3 ) I was 
really astonished. These figures are so primitive that it is quite 
impossible to say which species can be meant — all that can be 
said is, that they represent an Ophiurid, the curved arms indicat- 
ing that it is not an Ophiura, more probably an Ophiothrix that 
is meant. To take these figures as a proof that the Asterias cilia¬ 
ris of Linnæus is our O. texturata is simply absurd. Neither is 
there in the text a single word that could prove it to be O. tex¬ 
turata. — That Linnæus States of A. ciliaris: „habitat in Oceano 
australiori et indico“ is, of course, also a faet decidedly against 
identifying this species with the European O. texturata. 
We then come to the name Asterias ciliata Retzius. 4 ) It is not 
impossible that it can really be the same as our Ophiura texturata, 
although there is nothing in the description to show it definitely. 
But, anyhow, this name cannot come into consideration, since the 
name was preoccupied by O. Fr. Muller, 5 ) as Bell has correctly 
pointed out. The diagnosis of Ast. ciliata given by Muller: „radiata, 
*) 1 am indebted to my friend T. G i s 1 é n for the information of the spec- 
imens of „Asterias ophiura“. 
2 ) Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1891. 6. Ser. VIII. p. 341. 
8 ) Ja c. Barre li er. Plantæ per Galliam, Hispaniam et Italiam observatæ. 
Paris 1714. Tab. 1295, fig. 1. 
4 ) A. Retzius. Dissertatio sistens species cognitas Asteriarum. 1805. p. 29. 
5 ) Zoologiæ Danicæ Prodromus, 1776. p. 235. 
