76 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In the same paper the family Comasteridae was divided into the subfamilies 

 Capillasterinae, Comactiniinae, and Comasterinae, the family Himerometridae was 

 divided into the subfamilies Himerometrinae, Stephanometrinae, and Mariametrinae, 

 and the family Pontiometridae was proposed for the curious genus Pontiometra. 



In 1911 the name of the suborder was given as Oligophreata, and the following 

 families were included in it: Comasteridae, Zygometridae, Himerometridae, 

 Stephanometridae, Pontiometridae, Mariametridae, Colobometridae, Thalassome- 

 tridae, Calometridae, and Tropiometridae. Since that time there has been no change 

 in the status of the suborder. 



Superfamily COMASTERIDA Gislen 



Comaslerida GISLEN, Zool. Bidrag fran Uppsala, vol. 9, 1924, p. 229 (including the family Coma- 

 steridae only). 



While the family Comasteridae includes a considerable number of generic types, 

 the three groups into which these fall are not so sharply differentiated from each 

 other as are the corresponding groups of genera in the Mariametrida and the 

 Tropiometrida. 



On the basis of the interrelationships of the included genera the family Coma- 

 steridae is essentially the equivalent of the larger families in the Mariametrida and 

 Tropiometrida, but as a group the comasterids form a sharply defined unit which 

 is quite the equivalent of the Mariametrida and Tropiometrida. 



The systematic interrelationships within the Oligophreata may therefore most 

 correctly be expressed by placing the comatulids with combed oral pinnules in a 

 single family, the Comasteridae (including three subfamilies, the Capillasterinae, 

 Comactiniinae, and Comasterinae) and creating the superfamily Comasterida with 

 the Comasteridae as the only included family. 



Family COMASTERIDAE A. H. Clark 



Actinometra J. MULLER, Monatsber. d. k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss., 1841, p. 180; Archiv fur Natur- 

 gesch., 1841, vol. 1, p. 140. LUTKEN, Cat. Mus. Godeffroy, vol. 3, 1866; vol. 4, 1869, p. 125; 

 vol. 5, 1874, p. 190; vol. 5, 1877, p. 100; vol. 6, 1877. LXJTKEN, in P. H. Carpenter, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. (Zool.), ser. 2, vol. 2, pt. 1, Dec. 1879, pp. 18-19. P. H. CARPENTER, Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. (Zool.), ser. 2, vol. 2, pt. 1, Dec. 1879, pp. 1-122; Challenger Reports, Zoology, vol. 11, 

 pt. 32, 1884; vol. 26, pt. 60, 1888 [for page references in these 2 volumes see indices]. 



Actinometridae A. H. CLARK, Smithsonian Miscell. Coll. (Quarterly Issue), vol. 50, pt. 3, 1907, 

 p. 344 (includes Comatula; part of Comatulidae as understood by P. H. Carpenter); Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 36, 1909, p. 494 (history; renamed Comasteridae). 



Comasteridae A. H. CLARK, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 21, 1908, p. 135 (includes Comatula 

 and Comaster); Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 34, 1908, p. 210 (in key); p. 211 (includes Comaster 

 and Comatula; range); p. 211 (not represented in the Hawaiian Is.); p. 212 (range of included 

 genera); vol. 35, 1908, figs. 20, 21, p. 120; figs. 22, 23, p. 121; fig. 24, p. 122 (arm structure); 

 p. 125 (relation to Uintacrinus) ; Amer. Naturalist, vol. 42, No. 503, 1908, p. 722 (ecology); 

 p. 725 (color); Geographical Journal, vol. 32, No. 6, 1908, p. 602 (genera characteristic of 

 Indo-Pacific-Japanese region); p. 606 (ecology); Amer. Naturalist, vol. 43, 1909, p. 256 (not 

 known from the Red Sea); Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 36, 1909, p. 361 (equivalent to Aclino- 

 metra of P. H. Carpenter); p. 362 (characters; ambulacral plating in this family first shown 

 by Springer in Comaster \Nemaster] iowensis); p. 494 (reason for use of this name; revision of 

 the family); Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 22, 1909, p. 174 (referred to Conmtulida Oligo- 



