12 F. JEFFREY BELL. 



oral plates. The diameter of disc is 27 or 20 mm. ; no arm complete ; width of arm at 

 base about 4 mm., upper arm plates broader than long ; about 7 arm spines, the upper 

 free and pointed at their free ends, the lower shorter, imbedded in thick skin, and 

 blunted at the tip ; lower arm plates with narrow distal and proximal edges. Arm 

 insertion of disc well marked and guarded by about 15 spines, of which the median are 

 distinctly the larger. 



Colour in spirit : disc sickly white, arms more the colour of human flesh. 



Taken at 67 21' 46" S., 155 21' 10" E. 254 fins. 



I am sorry that both the specimens of this interesting species are a good deal 

 broken, as I should have liked to have had something better to offer to the honour of 

 the distinguished French naturalist who has done so much for our knowledge of 



O O 



Ophiuroids. 



OPHIOZOKA INERMIS. 



(>jiliio:ona inermis, Bell, Rep. 'Southern Cross' (1902), p. 217. 



This species, which was not well represented in the earlier collections, was found 

 on numerous dates during the stay of the ' Discovery ' at Winter Quarters. 



It exhibits a very wide range of variation, so great indeed as to have been at first 

 quite bewildering ; and it may be noted that Mr. Hodgson did not recognise any of 

 them as belonging to an already known Antarctic form. 



In the ' Southern Cross ' report I figured some of the remarkable variations in the 

 arrangement of the plates of the dorsal surface of the disc of Ophiosteira antarctica ; 

 a similar, but less striking, variation obtains in this Ophiozona. In 0. antarctica I 

 described the serrated and keeled appearance of the upper surface of the arm ; this is to 

 be seen also in some examples of 0. inermis. The most striking differences are to be 

 seen in the height of the disc, and the size of the so-called radial shields ; so that it 

 is by no means always true that the shields are inconspicuous. 



Winter Quarters, 10-178 fins, (various dates) ; MacMurdo Bay, 96-120 fms. ; 

 East end of Barrier, 100 fms. ; off Barrier, 300 fms. ; Coalman Island, 100 fms. 



In some specimens the dorsal plates of the disc are deeply incised ; this appears to 

 be due to want of sufficient calcareous matter, but as others are infested by a sponge it 

 is possible that it is the cause. 



Ol'HIOSTEIRA ANTARCTICA. 



(Plate V., fig. 2.) 

 (>l'liinsteira antarctica, Bell, Rep. ' Southern Cross' (1002), p. 218. 



It appears that the ' Southern Cross ' did not exhaust the variations in the disc 

 plates of this wonderful species ; the upstanding plates shown in Plate V., fig. 2, are 

 worthy of record, and it may be noted that the single arm left to this disc has the 

 dorsal serration extremely well marked. 



