A MONOGRAPH OP THE EXISTING CKINOIDS 627 



It is surprising how little correlation between size (and age?) and color specimens 

 of timorensis show. Some of the smallest specimens were very dark olive or dark 

 brown, nearly or quite black, rarely they were red. Specimens from 50 to 75 mm. 

 across were often light brown, yellowish, greenish, or even blue. Larger specimens 

 were commonly brown, olive, green, or purplish. Big specimens were often very 

 dark, and occasionally almost dead black. Few individuals were unicolor. The 

 change of shade, or even of color, between the base and the tip of the arm was usually 

 marked. 



The diversity of size, arm number, and number of cirri is no less noteworthy. 

 Doctor Clark's observations on these features are given under "Notes." 



History. This common and handsome species was first described by Johannes 

 Muller in 1841 under the name of Alecto timorensis. His description was based upon 

 notes taken by Troschel on some specimens which he found in the Leyden Museum 

 bearing the manuscript name Comatula timorensis which had been collected in Timor 

 by Heinrich Boie and Salomon Muller. 



Muller redescribed the species in 1849 under the name of Comatula timorensis, 

 and in 1862 Dujardin and Hupe' published a translation of Miiller's original descrip- 

 tion (1841), also calling it Comatula timorensis. 



Prof. C. F. Liitken in 1874 mentioned Actinometra intricata from Tonga and 

 Fiji in one of the catalogues of the Godeffroy Museum, in 1877 adding Port Denison 

 to the list of localities. The name appears alone, with no indication whatever of the 

 characters of the new form. 



In 1879 Dr. P. H. Carpenter described in great detail a new comasterid which 

 he called Actinometra polymorpha. The description was based upon 8 specimens 

 which he considered as typical, and 4 others which he regarded as representing 

 varieties. The 8 typical specimens and varieties 1 and 2 represent parvicirra as here 

 understood, but varieties 3 and 4 represent the present form. 



Carpenter had not been able to examine Mtiller's timorensis at that time, and 

 therefore was unable to assign it either to Antedon or to Actinometra. 



In the same memoir Carpenter said that in three species of Actinometra from the 

 Challenger collection the anterior arms are longest, although all the arms, anterior 

 and posterior alike, are grooved and bear tentacles. He does not again refer to 

 this statement, and he never identified the species to which he referred. One of 

 them, however, he subsequently described under the name of Actinometra littoralis. 



In September, 1882, Prof. Jeffrey Bell recorded a specimen of this species from 

 Ceylon under the name of Antedon, sp. He remarked that it was the first indication 

 within his knowledge of a comatulid from Ceylon. But Heterometra reynaudii was 

 described from Ceylon in 1846 by Johannes Muller, and in 1849 Capillaster multira- 

 diata was also recorded from Ceylon by the same author. 



On September 26, 1S82, Dr. P. H. Carpenter, under the heading Actinometra 

 meyeri, n. sp., gave very briefly the characters of a dry specimen from Australia 

 in the Hamburg Museum, intending later to describe the species represented in detail 

 from alcoholic material. He mentioned some conspecific specimens in the museums 

 at Dresden and Vienna, and also some fine individuals which had been collected 

 during his residence in the Philippines by Dr. A. B. Meyer, the director of the Dresden 

 Museum, for whom the species was named. 



