9° 



: >ubsequent studj of a considerable amount of material obtained 1>\ H.M, S.S. 'Challenger' 

 and 'Alert', and also bj Dr J. Andei ■ I R S. of the Calcutta Museum, lias convinced me 

 that the two types are really identical. Muller hardly ever made any comparison of his spi 

 with one another, but sim|>ly contented himself with descriptions, leaving his readers to determine 



the real points of difference between his various species The differences between Comatula 



erti and Comatula jacquinoti as ibed by Muller, are in realitj exceedingly slight. 



The number of cirrus joints, the character of tin- radials and of the arm joints, the colour, 

 and even the si \ identical in the two types. Comatula milberti has twenty-five 



to thirty ^irri with the spines transverse, while in Comatula jacquinoti there are twenty-two 

 cirri with the spines directed forwards. In Comatula milberti the syzygial interval is eight or 

 nine joints, and the second, third and fourth pinnules are the largest, while in Comatula jac- 



the syzygial interval is three to six joints and the first three or four pinnules are 'starker'. 

 Neither of these characters, however, nor even the combination of them, can be regarded as 

 <>( specific valui cially when we remember that each of Müller's species was based upon 



a >ii :cimen. That of Comatula jacquinoti had been obtained at Céram by the expedition 



of d'ÜRVlLLE in the -Zelee" (1841), while the form which Muller described under the specific 

 name milberti had previously received it from Valenciennes in honour of M. Milbert of Xew 

 York. who had given it to the Paris Museum; and it was possibly for this reason that the type 

 i as coming from North America. Under these circumstances Valenciennes, and 

 after him Muller, were perhaps a little predisposed to regard it as distinct from the Comatula 

 jacquinoti of Ceram, which Muller described along with it and in such nearly identical terms". 



< >n the basis of Carpenter's statement we would be justified in considering jacquinoti 

 a synonym of milberti, as he did. But unfortunately he included under the name milberti in 

 the "Challenger" report, in addition to jacquinoti, the species which we now know as mollcri 

 and discoidea, later adding laevipinna. It is by no means certain, therefore, that according to 

 the present standards jacquinoti would be considered identical with milberti. What the latter 

 really is must be left for future investigation to determine. 



Locality. — Supposed to be North America; the type was brought from Xew Vork; 

 but the genus, as well as the family to which it belongs, is exclusively Indod'acific. 



11. Amphimeira sinensis (Hartlaub). 



HARTLAUB. Mem. Mus. I omp. Zool., vol. 27, 1912, N°4, p. 378, pi. 1 3, fig. 4 (Antedon sinensis). 

 A. H. Clark. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 26, [913, p. 179 (Amphimetra sinensis). 



Remarks. — Dr. Hartlaub places this species near Amphimetra milberti, but from the 

 description it would appear to belong to the Colobometridae, falling possibly in the genus Decametra. 

 Localitv. — Hong Konjj. 



1 



12. Amphimetra tessellata (J. Muil 



J. MULLER. Monatsber. d. k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss., 1S41, p. 184; Archiv für Naturgesch., 



(.1, I. p. 144 (Alecto tessellata). 

 Abhandl. d. k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss., 1841 (1843), p. 224 (Alecto tessellata). 



