218 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the third is longer than broad, and the remainder are about half again as long as 

 broad. The distal ends of the segments are slightly everted and finely spinous; the 

 dorsal surface is beset with fine spines, and the last 4 bear long recurved spines dorsally. 



Localities. New Spain (probably the eastern coast of Mexico) [Linck, 1733; 

 Seba, 1758; Brugiere, 1792]. 



Albatross station 2146; off Colon, Canal Zone (lat. 9 32' 00" N., long. 79 

 54' 30" W.); 62 meters; broken shells; April 2, 1884 [A. H. Clark, 1909] (3, U.S.N.M., 

 25459). PI. 16, fig. 38; pi. 17, fig. 39. 



Remarks. One of the more important hitherto unidentified species of comatulids 

 described in the early works on zoology is the Stella marina polyactis, seu Luna 

 Marina, figured and described by Albertus Seba in 1758, which was said to have 

 come from New Spain. 



In the figure, which appears to be very accurate, the 29 arms are 75 mm. long 

 and the cirri are 22 mm. long, with, in the longer, 29-33 segments. Thus the number 

 and length of the arms and the number of segments in the cirri indicate that the 

 figure could represent this species perfectly well. 



Seba gave the color as dark purple, and mentioned that it is said that in the 

 night time, when the wind is stilled and when the moon shines, this creature very 

 commonly swims up from the sea bottom to the surface as if yearning for the 

 moonlight. 



There is no reason for doubting the correctness of the locality given by Seba, 

 but New Spain is somewhat indefinite. In its widest meaning New Spain included 

 the audiencias or judicial districts of Manila (Philippines), San Domingo, and 

 Guatemala ; but in its narrower meaning it comprised the audiencia district of Mexico 

 and the subordinate audiencia district of Guadalajara, which together extended from 

 Chiapas and Guatemala to beyond the eastern boundary of the present State of 

 Texas and northward, eventually, to Vancouver Island. 



On the west coast of Central and North America there are none but 10-armed 

 comatulids, all of which live in deep water, so that Seba's specimen could not have 

 come from that region. 



The probabilities are that it was taken at Vera Cruz, the port of Ciudad Mexico, 

 though of course there is a chance that it may have been brought from elsewhere. 

 In those days the harbor of Vera Cruz was much cleaner than it is now, so that the 

 absence of comatulids there at the present time is of no significance. 



Since this species was first noticed by Seba in 1758 the only specimens which have 

 come to light are the three which were dredged by the Albatross in 1884 off Colon. 



NEMASTER IOWENSIS (Springer) 



Plate 18, Figures 40, 41 



[See also vol. 1, pt. 2, fig. 243 (arm), p. 197; figs. 380, 381 (pinnule tip), p. 243; figs. 603, 604 (comb), 



p. 311] 



Aclinometra, sp. P. H. CARPENTER, Challenger Reports, Zoology, vol. 26, part 60, 1888, p. 328. 

 NUTTING, Bull. Lab. Nat. Hint. Univ. Iowa, vol. 3, Nos. 1, 2, 1895, p. 130 ("Perhaps the 

 greatest surprise was when we found [at Dry Tortugas] a magnificent crinoid with a spread 

 of about 12 inches growing in water less than 3 feet deep. These specimens were of a rich 

 golden brown color * * *") 



