290 Mr. T. C. Eyton on the British Species 



with 1 and the marginal ones with a pair of cylindrical blunt spines ; 

 the dorsal ossicula with radiating groups of short cylindrical spinu- 

 lose spines ; body with 6 slightly concave sides. 



Var. Body 5-sided. Var. or Monstrosity with 2 dorsal warts. 



Inhab. Van Diemen's Land. Ronald Gunn, Esq. 



6. Asterina Calcar. Asterias Calcar, Lam. 17; Oudart, t. . f . . 

 All the ossicula of the lower surface with a single central cylindrical 

 blunt spine ; the dorsal ones with numerous short tapering spinulose 

 spines ; body convex, with 8 rather elongate blunt rays. 



Inhab. Van Diemen's Land. Dr. Lhotsky, and Mr. G. B. Sowerby. 



3. Patiria. 



The body pyramidical, coriaceous, with five rays ; the ossicula of 

 the oral surface with uniform radiating groups of small spines ; of the 

 dorsal surface of two kinds, the one crescent- shaped with series of 

 small bundles of spines, the others bearing irregular round bun- 

 dles of spines between them. 



Patiria coccinea. Scarlet, the body 5 -rayed, sides concave, the 

 end of the rays rather slender, blunt. 

 Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. 



4. Socomia, Gray. 



The body depressed ; rays elongate, formed of imbricate plates ; the 

 margins broad, the upper and lower series of ossicules being sepa- 

 rated by a groove. 



Socomia paradoxa. Yellow. 

 Inhab. r 



XXXIII. — Some Remarks on the British Species of the Genus 

 Martes. By T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L.S. 



It has been long, and is now, I believe, a disputed point between the 

 writers on British Mammalia, whether or not two species of Marten 

 exist in the British Isles ; thus, Mr. Bell in his excellent ' History of 

 British Quadrupeds' gives them distinct; while, on the other hand, 

 Mr. MacGillivray in the 'Naturalists' Library' is of the "opposite 

 opinion. With a view of doing something towards setting this 

 question at rest, I requested several persons living in neighbour- 

 hoods where Martens are found to obtain some for me ; within a 

 short period I have received four specimens, one of which ex- 

 ternally presented all the characteristics of the true Pine Marten, 

 having the bright yellow breast of that species ; another agreed 

 with the descriptions of the Common Marten, was larger than the 

 last, and had a white breast. Both of these I had made into ske- 

 letons. The other two specimens presented an intermediate cha- 

 racter, having the breast slightly tinged with yellowish : I have 

 merely kept the cranium of one of these. I have no hesitation in 



