64 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



particularly the smaller specimens, possess such intermediate 

 characters that it has been found impossible to place them in 

 either group. Therefore but a single species can be recognized 

 at present, and, as the description of A. tenera precedes that of 

 A. compta by a single page, the former has priority. 



On the coast of Europe occurs a very similar species, 

 A. Mullen, and it is not certain that this is specifically distinct 

 from our A. tenera. Further examination of a large series of 

 both forms is needed to determine the matter with certainty. 



Asterias tenera, including both varieties, as shown by the 

 records of the U. S. Fish Commission, ranges from off the mouth 

 of Chesapeake Bay northward to Nova Scotia, in from 10 to 129 

 fathoms. It is recorded from the eastern end of Long Island 

 Sound, off Watch Hill, Rhode Island, but is more abundant in 

 the colder water farther off the coast and to the northward. 



The individuals of this species are small in size. Mature 

 specimens commonly measure only from two and one-half to four 

 inches between the tips of opposite arms. A few larger spec- 

 imens have been obtained, but the vast majority of specimens in 

 the extensive series belonging to the Yale University Museum 

 are less than three inches in diameter. 



The species may be distinguished from our other species of 

 the genus by the nearly cylindrical, slender, pointed arms 

 (Plate X). The disk is small, the slender arms being from five 

 and one-half to seven times as long as the diameter of disk. 



The color in life is pale, sometimes nearly white; often pale 

 purplish or pinkish. The madreporic plate and the sgines are 

 whitish. 



The rather open meshwork of plates on the aboral surface 

 carries very prominent, slender spines (Plate X, fig. 2) which 

 do not form a clearly defined median row on the arms, as they 

 do in Asterias vulgaris. In the majority of specimens all the 

 spines except those on the disk are surrounded by a conspicuous 

 wreath of pedicellarise (Plate X, figs. I and 4). They are more 

 closely crowded toward the tip of the ray. In some individuals 

 pedicellarise occur upon the spines of the disk, while in others 

 they are almost entirely limited to the rays. Usually one, two, 



