198 Transactions. — Zoology. 



side mouth-shields small, curving round the mouth-shield, and 

 narrow within, where they do not meet. The under arm- 

 plates are squarish, with slightly re-entering curves on the 

 outer side and laterals. The side arm-plates are small, and 

 widely separated above and below. The upper arm -plates are 

 about twice as broad as long, broader within than without, 

 having a rounded edge within and a re-entering curve with- 

 out ; they are sometimes split in two. The supplementary 

 plates are rather large, broader without than within, and 

 sometimes in several pieces. The arm-spines are four in num- 

 ber on the side arm-plates near the disc, and usually three on 

 the plates of the outer part of the arm ; they are stout, blunt, 

 slightly tapering, and laterally compressed. There is one 

 large roundly-oval tentacle-scale to each pore. The colour is 

 purplish-black or grey, the rays being usually banded and 

 the disc variegated or splashed with light-grey or yellowish- 

 white. 



In the Proc. Zool. Soc, 1872, p. 811, and Cat. Ech. of 

 N.Z.,p. 2., Professor Hutton briefly described this species under 

 the name Ophioncrcis fasciata. Mr. Lyman, when revising 

 the group for the "Challenger" Eeport, doubtfully placed 

 0. fasciata as a synonym of the Australian species, 0. schayeri. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. Etheridge, of the Australian 

 Museum, I have been able to compare specimens of 0. schayeri, 

 from Australia, with New Zealand specimens, and I find that 

 the}' are certainly identical. 



This is by far the commonest Ophiuroid found near 

 Wellington, and probably the commonest of all the New 

 Zealand forms. It is exceedingly abundant under stones in 

 rock-pools between tide-marks, and just below low-water 

 inark. Its colour is apparently protective, corresponding 

 almost exactly with that of the stones and sand among which 

 it lives. 



Ophiopeza cylindrica, Hutton. 



Professor Hutton briefly described this species under the 

 name of Ophiiira cylindrica (Cat. Ech. of N.Z., p. 3, 1872). 

 Mr. Lyman, in bis monograph, "Challenger" Eeport, vol. v., 

 p. 15, has made 0. cylindrica a synonym of Pectinura rigida, 

 Lyman. In the original description of P. rigida (Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., Harvard, vol. hi., p. 224) it is said to have been 

 found at Zanzibar, but in the "Challenger" Eeport the 

 locality given is Fiji. A comparison of the two descriptions, 

 and the localities— Zanzibar, Fiji, New Zealand — seemed to 

 indicate that there was an error somewhere. I have there- 

 fore compared Mr. Lyman's description of P. rigida with the 

 type specimens of 0. cylindrica which are in the Colonial 

 Museum, Wellington, and I find they are quite distinct from 



