The Echinoderm Fauna of South Africa. 305 



P.F. 2435. Lion's Head, Cape Town, N. 84 E., 38 miles. 

 194-204 fins. 1 specimen; adult. 



P.F. 15434. Cape Point Lighthouse, N.E. by N., T 3 /-, miles. 85fms. 

 Fne. gn. s. 1 specimen; young. 



MARTHASTERIAS GLACIALIS. 



Asterias glacialis Linne, 1758. Sys. Nat. ed. 10, p. 661. 

 Marthasterias glacialis AV. K. Fisher, 1906. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), 



vol. 17, p. 575. 



There are three starfishes in the PIETER FAURE collection which 

 I think must be referred to this northern species. Bell has already 

 recorded it (1905) from three South African stations. I have com- 

 pared the present specimens with others from further north and find 

 they agree very closely with those from the Azores. The species 

 has an extraordinary range, as it is found throughout the eastern 

 Atlantic from Iceland to the Cape of Good Hope; it occurs also on 

 the coasts of northern Norway and yet in the Mediterranean too! 

 The specimens in the PIETER FAURE collection are not large, R equal- 

 ling 33, 50 and 90 mm. The smallest has very few spines abacti- 

 nally except the median series, only 3-5 spines occurring between 

 that series and the superomarginals. The larger specimens have a 

 complete but not very regular lateral series on each side and some 

 additional spines. I agree with Bell that the number of series of 

 abactinal spines is not a valid specific character in glacialis. The 

 species is beautifully figured in Lud wig's great monograph "Seesterne 

 des Mittelmeeres", 1897, pi. 3, figs. 1-3. Much more South African 

 material must be secured before the real relation of glacialis to 

 africana, capensis and rarispina can be determined and the validity 

 of the three South African species be established. 



P.F. 3009. Cape Colony; False Bay. 2 specimens; adult. 



Locality unknown. 1 specimen; young. 



MARTHASTERIAS RARISPINA. 



Asterias rarispina Perrier, 1875. Arch. Zool. Exp., vol. 4, p. 246. 

 Marthasterias rarispina Verrill, 1914. Shallow Water Starfishes of the 



North Pacific Coast, p. 47. 



There is a well-preserved sea-star in the present collection which 

 seems to me undoubtedly a representative of this species. It is ap- 

 parently adult, R = 85 mm., (but as Perrier gives no measurements 

 whatever, it is impossible to show how its size compares with that 

 of the type). The abactinal surface of the rays is extraordinarily bare ; 

 there are only 10-12 spines and these are all in the median radial 



