606 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Comanthus annulatum var. xanlhum H. L. CLARK, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 



212, 1915, p. 102 (characters). 

 Comanthus annulatum xanthum A. H. CLARK, Unstalked Crinoids of the Siboga Exped., 1918, p. 53 



(synonym of C. annulala). 

 Comanthus callipepla H. L. CLARK, The Echinoderm Fauna of Torres Strait, 1921, p. 8 (collected 



by the Carnegie Exped., 1913); p. 17 (Mer; discussion; Philippines); p. 192 and following 



(range); pi. 1, fig. 1 (colored). 

 Comanthus annulala var. xantha H. L. CLARK, The Echinoderm Fauna of Torres Strait, 1921, p. 17 



(Mer; color); pi. 1, fig. 6 (colored). 

 Vania annulata GISLEN, Nova Acta reg. Soc. sci. Upsaliensis, ser. 4, vol. 5, No. 6, 1922, p. 54 (combs; 



Java, possibly a new species; characters). 

 Comanthus annulatus H. L. CLARK, Records Australian Mus., vol. 15, No. 2, Nov. 18, 1926, p. 184 



(Surprise Shoal, 7 fathoms). McNEiLL and LIVINGSTONE, Records Australian Mus., vol. 15, 



No. 2, Nov. 18, 1926, p. 194 (off Ellison Reef). 



Diagnostic features. The arms are from 30 to 78, usually about 40 and rarely 

 over GO, in number. The cirri are few in number, irregularly distributed about the 

 periphery of a thin more or less circular, pentagonal or stellate centrodorsal, or con- 

 fined to the interradial angles. Fully developed cirri have 13-17 (usually 14-15) 

 segments, but some or all of the cirri are more or less undeveloped, and these organs 

 are frequently represented by mere stumps and occasionally absent altogether. 



Description. The centrodorsal varies from a thin circular disk to a very small 

 pentagonal or stellate plate depressed slightly beneath the level of the radials. The 

 cirrus sockets, when present, are arranged in a single more or less deficient marginal 

 row. 



The cirri, if present, are I-XV, 14-15, 10 mm. long, moderately slender, similar 

 to those of C. parvicirra but proportionately larger. 



When no cirri are present the ends of the basal rays are visible as very small 

 tubercles in the interradial angles of the calyx at the angles of the centrodorsal. 



The radials are very short, and if cirrus sockets or cirri are present the centro- 

 dorsal may be so large as almost entirely to conceal them. The IBr : are almost or 

 quite twice as long as the radials, though short, five or six times as broad as long 

 and closely united laterally. The IBr 2 (axillaries) are about twice as long as the 

 IBri, from two to three times as broad as long, in lateral apposition or widely free. 

 The IIBr series are 4 (3 + 4) in the majority of cases, 2 in the minority, rarely all 4 

 (3 + 4) or the majority 2. The IIIBr series are 4 (3+4), rarely 2. The IVBr series 

 are 4 (3 + 4), but the series is more or less deficient. The division series may all be 

 narrow, strongly rounded dorsally and laterally, and widely separated from the 

 IBr! onward, or the more proximal division series may be broad and in lateral apposi- 

 tion as far as the IIBr 1( becoming more narrow and well separated from that point 

 onward. 



The arms are 40-60 in number, from 100 to 195 mm. in length. The first 2 

 brachials are subequal, slightly wedge-shaped, about twice as broad as the exterior 

 length, the first almost entirely united interiorly, the second interiorly free. The 

 first syzygial pair (composed of brachials 3 + 4) is oblong, about twice as broad as 

 long. The next 2 or 3 brachials are oblong, from two and one-half to three times 

 as broad as long, and those following become very obliquely wedge-shaped or tri- 

 angular, from half again to twice as broad as long, and after the proximal third of 



