Fakquhak. — On New Zealand Echinoderms. 201 



found in abundance just below low-water mark. I also ex- 

 amined a great number of specimens brought on shore in 

 fishermen's nets, but only on one occasion did I find a blue 

 one among them. This difference in colour may be due to 

 difference of sex. Professor Agassiz observed that the males 

 and females of the common American starfishes — Astcrias 

 vulgaris (Asteracanthion pallidus, Ag.), and Asterias forbesii 

 (Asteracanthion berylinus, Ag.) — can be distinguished by their 

 different colour — "all those having a bluish tint being in- 

 variably females, a reddish or reddish-brown colour indicat- 

 ing a male " — and we may find that the same obtains in our 

 species." This appears also to explain the fact that I have 

 never found any young specimens, the smallest being nearly 

 half-grown individuals brought on shore by fishermen. If the 

 young are sufficiently developed when born to attach them- 

 selves, as is the case with some southern forms, they probably 

 remain with the females in deep water till they are well grown. 

 During the summer I found plenty of large brown and grey 

 specimens just below low-water mark, but in the winter they 

 had retired to deeper water, out of the reach of the winter 

 storms, and after a careful search I only found a single large 

 specimen : this was, however, a specially interesting one. The 

 spines on the abactinal surface, instead of being isolated, rather 

 long, and pointed, are short, thick, and clavate, and arranged in 

 clusters and irregular lines like the spines of a Stichaster. Dr. 

 Liitken suggests that division may take place in this species 

 (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xii., p. 329), but I do not 

 think it is so. Some of the rays get broken off, and are restored, 

 but this is common to many species, and is merely the result 

 of accident. There are usually eleven rays, though ten-rayed 

 forms are not uncommon, and occasionally specimens having 

 a greater or less number of rays may be met with. Recently 

 I examined thirty-one specimens which had been left on the 

 beach by a fisherman, where he had drawn his net on shore, 

 and I found that twenty-six of them had eleven rays each, 

 and the other five had teu rays each. A specimen which I 

 had drying gave out white phosphorescent light where one of 

 the rays had been broken. 



* Since the above was written 1 have dissected eight specimens of 

 this species obtained at low water in Wellington Harbour, with the fol- 

 lowing result: Five of thern were males, having cream-coloured sper- 

 maries containing spermatozoa; and the other three were females with 

 bright-orange ovaries full of eggs. They were all reddish- or greyish- 

 brown specimens, with eleven rays each. One of them was a very large 

 specimen, measuring 15in. between the tips of the rays. The reason why 

 the difference of colour corresponds with the different habitat still 

 remains to be discovered. I hope, however, to obtain some blue speci- 

 mens shortly, so as to be able to solve the riddle. 



