308 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



3. Actinometra stelligera, n. sp. (PI. V. figs. 5, ci-cl; PI. LVIII. figs. 1,2; also Part 

 I. pi. lvi. fig. 8). 



br he 

 Specific formula — a. 2. 2. (2 ). -77. — r . 



Actinometra tenax, Lutken, MS., Museum Godeffroy. 

 1880. Actinometra stelligera, P. H. Carpenter, Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool)., 1880, vol. xv. 



pi. xii. fig. 26. 



Centro-dorsal a wide and rather thick disk bearing some thirty marginal cirri, with 

 twenty joints, a few of the lower ones being longer than wide. From the twelfth 

 onwards they are wider than long, sometimes with slight indications of a blunt dorsal 

 spine, which is more marked on the penultimate. 



First radials concealed, and also part of the second, which are closely united laterally. 

 Two distichals, two palmare, and sometimes two post-palmars ; each division of two 

 joints, the axillary not a syzygy. 



Thirty to forty arms, consisting of about one hundred and twenty slightly over- 

 lapping triangular joints, which are much wider than long, especially in the middle and 

 outer parts of the arms. 



The first two brachials are united by syzygy ; and in the two outer arms of each ray 

 the third brachial is generally a syzygial joint. The next syzygy is in the tenth or 

 twelfth brachial, and others follow at intervals of two or three joints. 



The second brachial has a pinnule about 16 mm. long, with a well-defined terminal 

 comb ; and the length gradually decreases to those of the eighth and ninth brachials, 

 which are short and have no comb. The two basal joints on the pinnules of the third 

 and the six or seven following brachials are more or less distinctly keeled. 



Mouth generally radial ; the anal area often rather thickly plated. 



Colour in spirit, — reddish or blackish-brown. 



Disk 15 mm.; spread 18 cm. 



Locality. — Station 174b, c, or d, August 3, 1874; near Kandavu, Fiji; lat. (about) 

 19° 6' S., long, (about) 178° 18' E.; 255, 610, or 210 fathoms; 1 coral mud; bottom 

 temperature at 610 fathoms, 39° F. Seven specimens. 



Other Localities. — Tonga ; Fiji ; Samoa ; Reef of Atagor (Jukes). 



Remarks. — I believe this fine species to be identical with the type which has been 

 distributed by the Godeffroy Museum under the name of Actinometra tenax, Liitken, 

 but I did not discover the fact till after some of the plates illustrating its structure had 

 been lettered and printed off. The name which it now bears relates to the appearance 

 of the basal star, which stands out in white from a brownish background when the 

 centro-dorsal is removed from the radials. The ends of the star sometimes appear 



1 The exact station, and consequently the exact depth, are not recorded. 



