206 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Stichaster littoralis, sp. n. Plate XIII., fig. 2. 



Bays 5. B = 32mm. ; r = 12mm. Breadth of a ray near 

 the base, 12mm. 



Form stellate. Bays short, thick, rigid, broad at the base 

 and tapering evenly to a rounded blunt extremity ; dorsal sur- 

 face rounded, with a well-defined, acute margin ; ventral sur- 

 face fiat, The disc is slightly convex, with ten large primary 

 apical plates, forming a circle round the centre of the disc, and 

 a few smaller plates within them. The madreporiform plate 

 is situated nearer the centre than the edge of the disc. It is 

 small, and surrounded by an irregular wreath of spinelets. 

 The plates on the rays form regular longitudinal series. They 

 consist of a dorsal median series of large, broad, rounded, 

 laterally peaked plates, with two series of small intermediate 

 plates on either side ; these are succeeded by a series of very 

 large, broad, lateral plates. Then follows a series of marginal 

 plates somewhat smaller than those of the median series, and 

 sometimes a series of exceedingly small intermediate plates. 

 The abactinal and lateral plates are armed with very short, 

 robust, clavate, subequal spinelets, with rounded, granular 

 summits. On the plates of the median series there is an 

 irregular curved or angular line of spinelets, sometimes 

 double, and sometimes with one or two spinelets within the 

 angle. The plates of the two abactinal intermediate series 

 bear each one spinelet (rarely two). On the lateral series of 

 large, broad plates there is usually but one spinelet on the 

 dorsal (superior) margin of each plate, and sometimes on the 

 apical part of the ray there are two small spinelets on each 

 plate, one above and the other below. The marginal plates 

 bear one or two (usually two) short, stout, blunt, clavate 

 spinelets, longer than those on the abactinal plates, forming 

 an oblique line on the margin of the ray. The abactinal and 

 lateral plates are covered with thick skin, on which are 

 situated very small, scattered, sessile, forcipiform pedicellarias, 

 which are slightly larger and more numerous on the actinal 

 side of the marginal plates and on the adambulacral plates. 

 The papular areas are in regular longitudinal series, between 

 the angles of the plates, with from 7 to 18 papulae in each. 

 The adambulacral plates are small, and so crowded that the 

 spines are crushed into two rows, though the plates bear but 

 one spine each. The spines are short and cylindrical. The 

 ambulacral furrows are broad, and the tube-feet arranged in 

 four rows. The dorsal surface is dark-brownish, or bluish- 

 grey, with white or yellowish spinelets ; and the ventral sur- 

 face white or pale-yellow. Spirit specimens are light-brown. 

 I received a fine series of twenty-one specimens of this 

 species from Mr. Cecil Howai'd, of Christchurch. They were 



