EEPOET ON THE ASTEROIDEA. 371 



Station 5. In the Faeroe Channel. August 10, 1882. Lat. 60° 11' to 60° 20' N., 

 long. 8° 15' to 8° 8' W. Depth 433 to 285 fathoms. Bottom temperature 43°-5 to 40°-8 

 Fahr. 



Genus Lasiaster, n. gen. 



Marginal contour stellato-pentagonal or pentagonal. Abactinal surface subplane, or 

 may be slightly inflated. 



Abactinal plates subcircular, covered with membrane, bearing numerous small miliary 

 spinelets which are more or less co-ordinated in relation to the plates. Papulae large, iso- 

 lated, widely separate, and irregularly distributed over the whole area. 



Supero-marginal plates well developed and superficially visible, covered with numerous 

 small, miliary spinelets. 



Infero-marginal plates large, also covered with numerous miliary spinelets, of which 

 a larger series may be developed at the ambital margin. 



Actinal interradial areas with large regularly arranged intermediate plates, more or 

 less hidden by a superficial membrane and bearing groups of spinelets. 



Adambulacral armature consisting of (1), a short furrow series of two or three spine- 

 lets ; and (2), a transverse series on the actinal surface of the plate. Or the whole arma- 

 ture may be disposed as a single transverse series. 



Madreporiform body small, approximately midway between the centre and the margin. 



Anal aperture present, subcentral. 



No pedicellarise. 



Remarks. — This genus is established for the reception of a small form dredged 

 during the " Porcupine " Expedition, which I am unable to place in any of the known 

 genera. Its nearest alliances appear to be with Rhegaster and Poraniomorpha, and I 

 have accordingly included it in the family Gymnasteriidae, although in many respects an 

 extreme form. 



Lasiaster differs from Rhegaster and Poraniomorpha in the character and develop- 

 ment of the supero-marginal plates, which are well-developed, conspicuous, and subequal 

 to the infero-marginal plates, the two series forming a thick margin in contradistinction to 

 the angular margin formed only by the infero-marginal plates in the two forms named. The 

 abactinal, marginal, and actinal intermediate plates all bear isolated groups of spinelets. 

 These characters might lead at first sight to ■ the impression that the starfish under 

 notice is an aberrant member of the Pentagonasteridse, but I only regard the resemblance 

 as superficial. 



Although I have never seen any examples of the starfish described by Sars 1 under the 

 name of Goniaster hispidus, I am led to believe from the careful description and drawings 

 given by that author that his form should be referred also to the present genus. 

 1 Fauna Littoralis Norvegiae, 3die Hefte, 1877, p. 72, pi. viii., figs. 24 and 25. 



