REPORT ON THE ASTEROIDEA. 319 



1. Nedria ocellifera (Lamarck), Gray (PI. LV. figs. 1-7). 



Asterias ocelli/era, Lamarok, 1816, Hist. nat. anini. s. vert., t. ii. p. 553. 



Nedria oculifera, Gray, 1840, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi. p. 287. 



Goniodiscus ocelliferus, Miiller and Troschel, 1842, System der Asteriden, p. 60. 



Chxtaster muni/us, Mcibius, 1859, Neue Seesterno des Hamburger und Kieler Museums, p. 3, 



Taf. i. figs. 1 and 2 (Abhandl. a. d. Gebiete Naturw. brsg. v. d. naturwiss. Verein, Hamburg, 



Ed. iv. Abth. 2, 1860). 

 Nedria ocelli/era, Gray, 1866, Synop. Spec. Starf. Brit. Mus., p. 15. 



Locality. — Station 162. Off East Moncceur Island, Bass Strait. April 2, 1874. Lat. 

 39° 10' 30" S., long. 146° 37' 0" E. Depth 38 to 40 fathoms. Sand and shells. Surface 

 temperature 6 3° "2 Fahr. 



Several examples of this starfish were collected at the ahove station, and are chiefly 

 interesting od account of showing different stages of growth. Only one example is large 

 and mature ; and this specimen agrees in the form of the ray and the character of the paxillse 

 with the description given by Perrier 1 of his Nedria ocellata, whilst the adambulacral 

 armature is that of Nedria ocelli/era. Nedria ocellata is the form which Gray called 

 Nedria ocellifera and referred to Lamarck's species Asterias ocelli/era ; Perrier, however, 

 considers that Gray's form is distinct from Lamarck's. The small examples, on the other 

 hand, have the short rays of Nedria ocellifera, but have the adambulacral armature of 

 Nedria ocellata. Under these circumstances I have refrained from referring the adult 

 specimen to Perrier's Nedria ocellata, and I feel in doubt as to whether that species is 

 really distinct from Ncctria ocellifera, Lamarck, sp., or is only a growth-stage. 



The largest of the Challenger examples has elongate, conically cylindrical, tapering 

 rays, the major radius being about three and a half times greater than the minor radius, 

 R= G4 mm, r = 18 mm. In the armature of the adambulacral plates there are two rows 

 of elongate papilliform granules, the furrow series having two or occasionally three, and 

 the outer row two granules. The large prominent paxillse of the abactinal surface taper 

 slightly from the base to the tabulum and are not hour-glass-shaped ; the granules in the 

 series that surrounds the margin of the tabulum are distinctly smaller than those on the 

 centre of the tabulum, but they do not in any sense become modified into flattened scales 

 as described by Perrier in Nedria ocellifera, Lamarck. The madreporiform body is dis- 

 tinctly visible, and the paxillse in its neighbourhood are not very high. It will thus be seen 

 that in the length of the ray and in the character of the paxillse this example conforms to 

 the description of Nedria ocellata, whilst in the character of the adambulacral armature it 

 resembles that of Nedria ocellifera. 



I may mention that I have seen a specimen in the Berlin Museum which also seemed 

 to combine the characters of the two forms. These circumstances are not without signifi- 

 cance in connection with what follows on the features of the young stages of the form 

 collected by the Challenger. 



1 R6vis. Stell. Mus., p. 188 (Archives de Zool. ezper., 1876, t. v. p. 4). 



