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



In Long Island Sound this ophiuran occurs on the eelgrass 

 in New Haven harbor, and has been collected at several other 

 localities .in shallow water, hiding in dead mollusk shells and in 

 the interstices of stones. 



The diameter of the disk is 3 to 5 mm., and the length of 

 each of the five slender arms is from 10 to 20 mm. 



The color is gray or pale brownish, often with numerous 

 lighter or whitish spots. The oral surface is gray with a yellow- 

 ish tinge, usually with a whitish spot at the base of each arm. 

 In very young specimens the disk is orange. 



The disk is flattened and nearly circular (Plate XVII), and 

 is covered with small scales. The arms have three spines on 

 each side of each segment, and these stand out at nearly right 

 angles to the axis of the arm, as shown in the figure. 



A detailed description of the arrangement of scales on disk 

 and arms is to be found in Clark's Report on the Echinoderms 

 of the Woods Hole region.* 



In this species the eggs mature in midsummer and are retained 

 in the genital bursse after fertilization. They there develop into 

 young ophiurans, which are then discharged from the body as 

 tiny brittle stars, of form and structure like the parent. They 

 do not undergo the metamorphosis characteristic of the other 

 species, for none of our other species is known to be viviparous. 



Amphioplus abditus Verrill 



Plate XVIII; Plate XIX, fig. i. 

 i 



This locally distributed species was for many years known 



only from Long Island Sound. Quite recently, however, a single 

 specimen has been recorded from the harbor at Woods Hole, 

 Massachusetts/I" and one specimen was collected by the writer 

 some years ago at the same locality. 



The animal lives buried in the soft mud, and when exposed 

 quickly buries itself again. Verrill t states that it naturally lies 

 with one or more of the very slender arms projecting above 

 the surface of the mud. " On this account it is seldom dredged 



* Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission for 1902, <p. 560. 

 t H. L. Clark, Science, vol. xxvii, p. 147, 1908. 

 J Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard Sound, p. 139. 



