REPORT ON THE ASTEROIDEA. 



357 



maintained. The third form mentioned above, Astcrias vernicina, remains the type of 

 Midler and Troschel's genus Asteropsis. 



Cliorology of the Genus Gymnasteria. 



a. Geographical distribution : — 



Indian Ocean : One species between the parallels of 30° N. and 30° S. 



Gymnasteria carinifera from the Red Sea and Mauritius, and 

 extending into the Eastern Archipelago and Pacific. 



Eastern Archipelago : One (or perhaps two) species between the parallels of 

 20° N. and 20° S. 



Gymnasteria carinifera from Amboina and other islands, and 

 extending both into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Gymnasteria 

 biserrata from Larentuka, is in my opinion a young stage of 

 Gymnasteria carinifera, or at most a variety which has maintained 

 its juvenile characters. 



Pacific : One (or perhaps two) species between the parallels of 30° N. and 30° S. 

 Gymnasteria carinifera from New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, 

 the Sandwich Islands and Panama, and extending into the Eastern 

 Archipelago and Indian Ocean. Gymnasteria valvulata from the 

 Galapagos Islands is a very young form, on the specific validity of 

 which it is somewhat hazardous to place reliance. 



/3. Bathymetrical range : Shallow water. 



y. Nature of the Sea-bottom : Not recorded. 



Chorological Synopsis of the Species. 



1. Gymnasteria carinifera (Lamarck), von Martens (PL LII. figs. 5-8 juv.). 



Asterias carinifera, Lamarck, 1816, Hist. nat. anim. s. vert., t. ii. p. 556. 



Asterope carinifera, Midler and Troschel, 1840, Monatsber. d. k. Akad. d. "Wiss. Berlin, p. 104 (nan 



Asterope, Philippi). 

 Gymnasteria spinosa, Gray, 1840, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist,, vol. vi. p. 27S. 



