SHALLOW-WATER STARFISHES 



It is especially characteristic of the region from Puget Sound to 

 southern Alaska, at low tide and in shallow water. I have received 

 numerous good specimens from the Canadian Geological Survey, 

 taken at Departure Bay, Vancouver Island, etc. Also, from C. F. 

 Newcombe, specimens from off Victoria, Vancouver Island (large). 

 The type was from Ramsay Island, British Columbia (Canadian 

 Geological Survey). 



SOLASTER CONSTELLATUS Verrill. 



Plate XLVI, figures 3, 4 (type) ; plate xc, figure 2 (type) ; plate xcm (type) ; 



plate xciv, figure i (type). 



Solaster constellatus VEERILL, Amer. Journ. Sci., xxvin, p. 60, figs. 3, 4, 1909. 

 Fisher, op. cit., ignb, p. 311, foot-note. 



The type is eight-rayed, with a small disk and long, tapered arms. 

 Radii of the type are 21 mm, and 78 mm. ; ratio, i : 3.7. 



The dorsal pseudopaxillae are unusually large and elevated, regular 

 and flower-like. They are stellate in form, and usually, where 

 largest on the disk and base of rays, they have a single central 

 spinule and about six equally spaced and webbed marginal spinules, 

 which are often fully expanded and nearly horizontal, producing 

 the appearance of a six-petaled flower. The largest ones may have 

 six to eight divergent spines, and the small distal ones only four or 

 five. The superomarginal and interactinal ones are quite similar to 

 the dorsals. The peractinals are small. 



The dorsal papulae are small and mostly stout, and stand singly 

 around the pseudopaxillae. The latter are very regularly arranged in 

 oblique alternating rows on the sides of the rays, or in quincunx. 



The inferomarginal plates are small, roundish, and bear a small 

 number (eight to twelve) of elongated, webbed spinules similar to 

 the dorsal ones, but longer. 



The adambulacral spines consist of a furrow-series with two, or 

 sometimes three, short, tapered spines, and an outer comb of six to 

 eight nearly equal, tapered spines, webbed nearly to the tips; the 

 inner ones are usually rather longer, so that the rows are a little 

 graded. Adoral spines are strongly graded, about ten to a jaw, the 

 apical ones unusually stout. The superomarginal pseudopaxillae are 

 but little larger than the dorsal ones, but are distinct, partly owing 

 to their greater elevation. 



This is not the only eight-rayed species known to me from that 

 coast. Its large and beautifully stellate dorsal pseudopaxillae are 

 distinctive and decidedly larger and with longer spinules than in 

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