SHALLOW- WATER STARFISHES 73 



resemblance to the young of ochraceus, var. nodiferus, of similar size 

 (diameter about 4 inches), but it has the biserial adambulacral 

 spines and other characters of epichlora, and lacks the giant serrate 

 pedicellariae. (See under L. epichlora, var. subnodulosa.) 



Other specimens have these variations in less degree, and many 

 have more or less of the giant lateral pedicellarise, which may indi- 

 cate an infusion of ochraceus blood, so to speak, for they are not 

 constantly present in epichlora and do not exist in the allied species. 



Where so many closely related species are associated together, as 

 on the Alaskan coasts, occasional hybridization is to be expected. It 

 is well known to occur on certain middle portions of the New Eng- 

 land coast, between A. vulgaris and A. forbesi, where the ranges of 

 these two species overlap, as well as their breeding seasons, as at 

 Wood's Hole and Vineyard Sound, Mass., just south of Cape Cod. 



The Asterias janthina Brandt (Prod., p. 269, 1835), probably 

 described from a colored drawing only, was so poorly characterized 

 that no one has been able to identify it with certainty. Dr. Stimpson 

 thought that it might be only a color-variety of ochraceus, and that 

 is not unlikely, from Brandt's statement. His description was as 

 follows : 



"A species quite similar to the preceding (ochraceus} but dif- 

 ferent. Diameter of the disk less, rays a little longer, with more 

 numerous and more crowded spines, much more numerous in the 

 center of the disk, and not forming a pentagonal star. Back all light 

 violaceus ; spines white." 



The relative length of the rays in P. ochraceus is quite variable, 

 and so is the number and arrangement of the dorsal spines. Some 

 of our Sitka and Vancouver Island specimens have the spines closely 

 crowded. The color in most species of this group may vary between 

 yellow, orange, red, and purple. This species is often violet or 

 purple, in life. 



PISASTER CONFERTUS (Stimpson). 

 Plate xxxvm, figures i, 2 (type) ; plate LIII, figure 2. 

 Asterias conferta STIMPSON, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. History, vin, p. 263, 1862. 

 Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., I, p. 326, 1867. Perrier, Revision, p. 

 335 [7i], 1875. Sladen, op. cit., p. 820. Bell. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 

 p. 494, 1881. Whiteaves, Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, iv, p. 116, 1887. De 

 Loriol, Mem. Soc. Phys. et Hist. Nat., Geneve, xxxn, part 2, p. 17, pi. 

 in, figs, i-ig, 1897. 



Dr. Stimpson's original description was as follows: 



" Rays five, stout, rounded, and dilated at base ; disc large. Pro- 



