310 Annals of the South African Museum. 



singa by diffeiences in the adambulacral armature which seem to 

 me hardly of generic significance. For the present at least I think 

 cricophora may remain in Brisinga. 



BRITTLE-STARS. OPHIUROIDEA. 



Brittle-stars form a relatively small part of the South African 

 echinoderm fauna, there being fewer species represented than there 

 are sea-stars and scarcely a dozen seem to be common along shore. 

 Doderlein, in his list referred to previously (see p. 222), names 29 species 

 as occurring in water of less than 278 fms. but one of these ( Ophio- 

 zona capensis) is synonymous with another (Oph'mra costata) and two 

 others ( Ophioderma tonganum and Ophiothrix roseocoeridans) are due to 

 mistaken identifications. The collection from the South African 

 Museum contains over 1200 specimens representing 44 species, of 

 which 22 are in Dciderlein's list. There are however 5 species hitherto 

 known from Mozambique and one from Algoa Bay, as well as two 

 from deep water off South Africa, and hence not listed by Doderlein, 

 which fall within the scope of this report. There is also a species 

 (Ophiocnemis marmorata) in the collection of the M. C. Z. from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, collected by Wahlberg, of which Doderlein was 

 necessarily ignorant. There are thus 57 species of brittle-star included 

 in the present report, of which however only 6 are new to science: 

 these are here described for the first time. 



Of the 57 species, 30 are truly littoral occurring in water less than 

 twenty fathoms deep, while 5 are strictly abyssal occurring only 

 (or, at least, generally) in water beyond 600 fms. The remaining 

 22 species may be classed as continental. 



Of the 30 littoral species, 16 seem to be endemic and as all but 

 one have been known for some years, it is fair to say that half the 

 littoral brittle-stars are characteristic forms. Of the remaining 

 14 species, 12 are East Indian or Indian Ocean forms while one 

 (Amphipholis squamata) is cosmopolitan and one (Ophiothrix fragilis) 

 is European. None of the littoral species are known from either 

 South America or the southern coasts of Australia. It is noteworthy 

 that of the 30 littoral brittle-stars here treated as South African, 

 8 are not known from south of Mozambique and one or two others 

 are of very doubtful occurrence south of that point. 



Of the 22 continental brittle-stars, no fewer than 14 are endemic, 

 five of these being here described for the first time. The continental 

 fauna is thus a very characteristic one. Of the eight species not 



