ZOOhOGY—contimied. 



Art. IjI.-^On a Netv Species of Ophiuroidea. 



By H. Faequhar. 



Communicated by the Secretary. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 20th March, 1900.] 



Ophiocreas constrictus, n. sp. 



Disc thick, strongly constricted in . the interbrachial 

 spaces, concave in the middle, with large, long, prominent 

 radial shields, ahnost meeting their whole length, and not 

 quite reaching the centre. Diameter of the disc, 22 mm. ; 

 length of arm, 470mm.; height of arm near the disc, 

 6-5 mm.; width, 7 mm. Disc and arms covered with loose, 

 thick, wrinkled skin, especially w-rinkled at the centre of the 

 disc. Skin smooth to the eye, but under the microscope seen 

 to be covered with exceedingly minute papillae and numerous 

 scattered pores or small pits on the disc and the arms near 

 the disc. The long arms taper gradually to very fine 

 extremities ; they are rounded above and flat below. Eibs 

 indistinct. The first* two arm-pores have no scales ; those 

 beyond have two (rarely three) spiniform, bluntly pointed 

 scales, encased in skin, with rough tips ; towards the base of 

 the. arms they are rather stout and about equal in size, 

 beyond the inner one is somewhat larger than the outer. 

 The lowermost tooth is stout and bluntly pointed, those 

 above somewhat larger and flattened. 



Colour in alcohol reddish-brown above, yellowish below. 



This species may be readily distinguished from the other 

 known forms by its very long ai-ms and the small pits in the 

 skin on the disc and arms. 



The type specimen which was collected by Mr. W. 

 Docherty at Dusky Sound, and placed in my hands by Dr. 

 Benham for identification, is in the Otago Museum. A dry 

 specimen with its arms coiled around a gorgonian, found by 

 the late Mr. T. Kirk at Jackson Bay, is in the Colonial 

 Museum, Wellington. This is the only species of the family 

 AstrophytidcB which has been found in New Zealand waters. 



