The Echinoderin Fauna of South Africa. 363 



P.F. 16231. False Bay, Cape Colony, 22 fins. Brk. sh. 2 spec- 

 imens ; adult. 



Bathymetrical range, 22-43 fms. 



Holotype, South African Museum no. A 6438. P.F. 16231. 



This pretty little brittle-star is nearer to carnea of Northern Euro- 

 pean seas than it is to stellata of the East Indian region. All three 

 species agree, as Koehler many years ago pointed out in respect to 

 carnea and stellata (1898, Bull. Sci., vol. 31, p. 62), in the possession 

 of the pair of peculiar swollen plates between the upper ends of the 

 genital plates, and this is so characteristic and so obvious a feature, 

 that it seems to be worthy of generic recognition, especially asso- 

 ciated as it is, with a flat, elevated disk and short, stout flattened 

 arms with small upper and under arm-plates. The differences be- 

 tween carnea and anoidea are not very important but are perfectly 

 obvious. In the first place, the upper arm-plates of carnea are 

 distinctly swollen, while those of anoidea are flat; the disk-plates of 

 the European species are much more numerous (comparing specimens 

 of the same size) than in the South African form ; in the latter the 

 arm-spines of the basal arm-segments are about twice as long as 

 those of carnea; and finally the under arm-plates of anoidea are 

 smaller and less conspicuous than those of the northern species. In 

 a certain sense these differences show that anoidea is intermediate 

 between carnea and stellata in structure, as it is geographically. 



OPHIOCTEN AMITINUM. 

 Lyman, 1878. Bull. M. C. Z., vol. 5, p. 100; pi. V, figs. 129, 130. 



The specimens in the PIETER FAURE collection resemble closely 

 those taken by the CHALLENGER, with which I have compared them, 

 except that there is little or no indication of papillae on the distal 

 margins of the basal upper arm-plates. These papillae however are 

 not so well marked in all the CHALLENGER specimens as Lyman's 

 figure suggests and I do not think their absence in the specimens 

 before me is due to anything more than individual diversity. The 

 disk-diameter of these specimens ranges from 3 to 7 mm. 



Several of the specimens from off the Glendower Beacon were 

 parasitized by a nematode worm several centimeters in length, lying 

 coiled within the disk. These worms have been sent to Professor 

 H. B. WARD of the University of Illinois for- study. 



P.F. 13721. Great Fish Point, N. by W. 3 / 4 W., 17 miles, 100 

 fms. S., sh., st. 11 specimens; adult and young. 



