A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRINOIDS 123 



Phanogenia (part) A. H. CLARK, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 35, 1908, p. 124. 



Comatella (part) A. H. CLARK, Smiths. Miscell. Coll. (Quarterly Issue), vol. 52, part 2, 1908, p. 207. 



Neocomatella A. H. CLARK, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 22, 1909, p. 177 (type Antedon alata 

 Pourtales, 1878); p. 176 (included in the Capillasterinae) ; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 40, 

 1911, p. 9 (indicates a West Indian element in the northwest African fauna); p. 10 (represents 

 in the Atlantic the eastern Comatella); Mem. Australian Mus., vol. 4, 1911, p. 738 (represents 

 the East Indian Comaiella in the Caribbean); Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 43, 1912, p. 389 

 (discussion of affinities and relations) ; p. 390 (very closely related to Comatella which it repre- 

 sents in the West Indies) ; Crinoids of the Indian Ocean, 1912, p. 13 (corresponds to the East 

 Indian Comatella); Internat. Revue der gesamt. Hydrobiol. u. Hydrogr., 1914, pp. 3, et seq. 

 (represents in the Atlantic Comaiella; range and its significance) ; Beitrage zur Kenntnis der 

 Meeresfauna Westafrikas, Echinod. II, Crinoidea, 1914, p. 309 (represents the Indo-Pacific 

 Comatella, which occurs at Madagascar, in the middle Atlantic region) ; Die Crinoiden der 

 Antarktis, 1915, p. 181 (range; corresponds to the eastern Comatella); American Naturalist, 

 vol. 49, 1915, p. 525 (bathymetrical range); p. 539 (asymmetrical disk); Unstalked Crinoids 

 of the Siboga Expedition, 1918, p. 3 (in key); Univ. Iowa, Studies in Nat. Hist., vol. 6, 

 No. 5, 1921, p. 12 (West Indian and east Atlantic); p. 14 (in key); The Danish 7nffo(/-Exped., 

 vol. 4, No. 5, Crinoidea, p. 38 (range); p. 50 (in key). GISLN, Zool. Bidrag fran Uppsala, 

 vol. 9, 1924, p. 38 (brachial homologies). 



Diagnosis. A genus of Capillasterinae in which the arms are more than 10 in 

 number; all of the division series are 2; the first pinnule is on the second brachial; 

 the first syzygy on arms arising from a IIBr axillary is between brachials 1+2 and 

 the second is between brachials 3 + 4, or on the inner arms commonly between bra- 

 chials 4 + 5 or 5 + 6; the brachials beyond the basal are triangular, about as long as 

 broad, and the centrodorsal is of moderate size or rather small, with the cirri arranged 

 in very irregular rows. 



Geographical range. From St. Paul's rocks off the coast of Brazil northward 

 throughout the Caribbean Sea to the Dry Tortugas and Bahamas; from the Canary 

 Islands northward to Brittany. 



Bathymetrical range. From 13 to 1,710 meters. 



Thermal range From 8.33 to 21.50 C. 



Remarks. The genus Neocomatella differs only slightly from Comatella in struc- 

 ture, though the general appearance of the individuals of the species of the two 

 genera is quite different. 



Neocomatella is a more generalized type than Comatella with fewer arms, more 

 elongate brachials, and more slender cirri. In the small abyssal east Atlantic species 

 the number of arms is rather constant about 20 as in the case of the small species 

 of Comatella, but in the large American species, which live in shallower water, the 

 number of arms is very variable, ranging from 11 to 22 and averaging about 16. 

 Some nearly full-grown individuals have only 10 arms. PI is the largest and longest 

 pinnule, and, as in Comatella, it is of variable size. The following pinnules may 

 decrease regularly in length, or P 2 may be abruptly smaller and shorter than Pp 



It is interesting to note that in a specimen of Neocomatella pulchella recorded 

 herein one of the arms arising from a IIBr series has a pinnule on the first brachial 

 and the first syzygy between brachials 2 + 3 as in Capillaster and Nemaster. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES IN THE GENUS NEOCOMATELLA 



a 1 . Cirri stout with 15-21 (usually 18-19) segments of which the longest proximal are about twice as 

 long as broad (Caribbean Sea to St. Paul's rocks; 13-507 m.). 



