A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRINOIDS 447 



Danish expedition to the Kei Islands; Dr. Th. Mortensen; station 107; Java 

 Sea, north of western Java (lat. 5 47' S., long. 106 07' E.); 49 meters; sand, stones, 

 and sponges; August 5, 1922 (1). 



Siboga station 294; off the southwestern coast of Timor (lat. 10 12' 12" S., 

 long. 124 27' 18" E.); 73 meters; soft mud with very fine sand; January 23, 1900 

 [A. H. Clark, 1918] (4, U.S.N.M., E. 434; Amsterdam Mus.). 



Siboga station 240; anchorage at Banda, Moluccas; 9-36 meters; black sand end 

 coral; lithothamnion bank; November 22-December 1, 1899 [A. H. Clark, 1918] 

 (4, U.S.N.M., E. 432; Amsterdam Mus.). 



Near Mimien, Aru Islands; 15 meters; coarse sand; April 8, 1908; Dr. H. Merton 

 [Reichensperger, 1913]. 



Siboga station 274; Aru Islands Gat. 5 28' 12" S., long. 134 53' 54" E.); 

 57 meters; sand, shells, and stones; December 26, 1899 [A. H. Clark, 1918] (1, 

 Amsterdam Mus.). 



Macclesfield Bank; 36-64 meters [Bell, 1894; A. H. Clark, 1913] (1, B. M.). 



Macclesfield Bank [Bell, 1894; A. H. Clark, 1913] (1, B. M.). 



Mortensen's station 20; off Okinose, Sagami Bay, Japan; 110 meters; hard 

 bottom; June 11, 1914 [Gisle"n, 1927]. 



Geographical range. From the Andaman, Lesser Sunda, and Aru Islands, and 

 the Moluccas, to the Macclesfield Bank and southern Japan. 



Bathymetrical range. From 15 (?9) to 110 meters. The average of 7 records is 

 56 meters. 



History. This species was originally described by Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell in 1894 

 from a specimen from the Macclesfield Bank under the name of Antedon brevicirra. 

 At the same time he recorded a second specimen under the name of Actinometra 

 parvicirra. 



In 1909 I again described it as Comaster parvus from specimens dredged by the 

 Investigator off the Andaman Islands. These were redescribed and figured in 1912. 



In 1910 I examined Professor Bell's material in the British Museum and was 

 much surprised to find that his Antedon brevicirra, which was quite unrecognizable 

 from the published description, was in reality a species of Comaster. In 1913 I 

 published a redetermination of Bell's specimens, but inadvertently assigned them 

 to C. distincta instead of identifying them with C. parvus as I should have done. 



In 1913 Dr. August Reichensperger recorded C. parvus from the Aru Islands, 

 and in 1918 I recorded specimens from 3 Siboga stations. 



In 1927 Dr. Torsten Gisl^n recorded as C. parvus some specimens which had 

 been collected by Dr. Th. Mortensen in Sagami Bay, southern Japan. 



Remarks. Speaking of this species as illustrated by the specimens from Sagami 

 Bay, Gilse'n expressed himself as rather in doubt whether this form is in reality 

 sufficiently differentiated from C. serratus to be designated as a separate species. 

 He found the U-shaped gap between the IIBr series to be quite distinct in his speci- 

 mens, while it is not marked in specimens of C. serratus. He noted also that the arms 

 in C. parvus are longer and more numerous, IIIBr series occurring on the outer 

 side of the IIBr series, and IVBr series being even sometimes present. He con- 

 cluded that the species might therefore be regarded as valid. 



I have not seen any Japanese specimens. 



