CLARK: THE STARFISHES OF THE GENUS HELIASTER. 47 



outer sides of the adambulacral series, and between the basal and distal halves of 

 each adambulacral spine, on its outer side ; oral spines usually dark, at least on 

 aboral side ; madreporite white or yellow. 



Range. — Hood's Island (Gray); Chatham Island (U. S. N. M.) ; Albemarle 

 Island (M. C. Z.); Charles Island (M. C Z.). Confined to the Galapagos 

 Islands. — The reported occurrence of this species in the Hawaiian Islands is to 

 be accounted for as follows : — In 1867 Verrill described a specimen of kubiniji, 

 which he said was obtained with other Panamic species from Mr. Pease at the 

 Sandwich Islands, but probably came from Acapulco or Mazatlan, Mexico. Per- 

 rier (1878), ignoring or failing to understand the latter half of Verrill's statement, 

 gives " lies Sandwich " as one of the localities for kubiniji. Sladcn (1889), ac- 

 cepting Rathbun's view that kubiniji is a synonym of multiradiatus, and also 

 evidently accepting Perrier's list of localities at its face value, gives Sandwich 

 Islands as a habitat of multiradiatus . On the strength of Sladen's word, Fisher 

 (1906) includes //. multiradiatus in his list of Hawaiian starfishes, but he very 

 properly expresses serious doubt as to any Heliaster occurring at Hawaii. 



Remarks. — Verrill (1867) in speaking of kubiniji pointed out that Gray's de- 

 scription of multiradiatus did not fit specimens from Mexico, and the two species 

 were regarded as distinct until Rathbun (1887) compared two specimens from 

 Chatham Island with a large series from Mexico, and reached the conclusion that 

 they were identical, and that kubiniji was therefore a synonym of multiradiatus. 

 Sladen (1889) adopted that conclusion, and it has since been very generally ac- 

 cepted. In 1895 Leipoldt, referring to five specimens from Chatham Island, de- 

 scribes what he calls their " peculiar " coloration, his specimens agreeing well with 

 typical multiradiatus, the coloring of which had never previously been described, 

 for curiously enough neither Gray nor Rathbun make any reference to the color. 

 Dr. Rathbun has kindly sent me, among the Heliasters from the National Museum, 

 the two specimens from Chatham Island, on which his opinion was based. I find 

 they agree in all essentials with the other Galapagos specimens before me, and 

 there will be no question that to them belongs the name multiradiatus. After a 

 comparison of these specimens with a very large series of kubiniji from Mexico 

 I am obliged to disagree with Rathbun's conclusion that they are all one species. 

 No one will question the close relationship between the Galapagos and Mexican 

 forms, and it is simply a matter of personal opinion whether it is better to empha- 

 size the relationship by uniting them under one name, or to emphasize by distinct 

 names the differences which have arisen in completely separated geographical 

 areas and which are obviously and reasonably constant. The latter course seems 

 to me preferable. The differences between the two can better be discussed under 

 kubiniji, and only one or two other points need to be referred to here. Both species 

 show great diversity in the length of the different rays in a single individual, old 

 specimens often having only two or three rays of exactly the same length. As an 

 illustration of this fact, the following measurements (in millimeters) of the 25 rays 

 of an excellent specimen of multiradiatus may be given, beginning with the ray 

 to the left of the madrepore and going clockwise : 72, 71, 70, 69, 51, 57, 65, 68, 



