128 Transactions. 



Small, five-rayed, with slender body and five angular arms which branch 

 o£E from the flat-shaped body through a ring-like furrow. The bodv is 

 covered with small stumpy spines arranged in rows along the arms ; between 

 these lie depressions in which there are numerous papula:^. Ambulacral 

 spines in two rows. 



R = 16 J. /• = 4. Width of arm at the proximal end. 8 mm. 



The body itself is flat, but bulky, and separated from the rays dorsallv 

 by more or less distinct pentagonal wrinkles. At this point the arms very 

 easily separate themselves from the body. At the base they are somewhat 

 contracted, but soon widen out, and then gradually taper away. Each 

 arm has a perfectly flat ventral surface, two straight side surfaces, and 

 a back raised somewhat like the keel of a boat. The ambulacral furrow 

 is broad, and bounded by two rows of small cylindrical spines, the inner 

 row having a third fewer spines than the outer. Outside the furrow there 

 is a row of straight pedicellari.'p. On the back there is a row of blmatly 

 pointed spines, three or four together. The perpendicular side surface of 

 the arm is free of spines, and is clothed with a thin and soft skin, which 

 is pierced by a row of papulae, between which there are straight pedicellaripe. 

 The dorsal skeleton of the arms consists of a thick mass of lime stems and 

 knotted points, which are arranged in three long rows, and are raised. 

 These bear short blunt spines, whilst the depressions lying between bear 

 papul?e. The lime covering of the body is very dense, and is armed with 

 short stumpy spines, lying about here and there without order. Between 

 them there are crossed pedicellaripe and papulae, the latter in a radius equi- 

 distant from the central point, and the circumference of the body forming 

 a circle. The madreporic plate is very small, and contains few furrows. 

 It is nearly covered by a surrounding half-circle of 6 blunt spines, situated 

 close up to the disc-wall. The entire skeleton of the starfish is rigid and 

 inflexible. The peculiar formation of the skeleton of the arm induces me 

 to place this starfish next to A. sulcifern. The colour when fresh was pale 

 reddish-orange. 



Found east of New Zealand in S.L. .35^ 21' and E.L. 175° 40'. in 597 

 fathoms depth. 



Asterias calamaria, Gray, 



In vol. XXX, page 188, of the Transactions I noted that adult specimens 

 of A. calamaria in Port Nicholson have 10 or 11 arms of equal length, while 

 " young individiuils of this species always have a number of small arms 

 budding out between the larger ones, or a group of small ones on one side 

 of the disc. . . . They appear to have only a small number of arms 

 at first (4 to 7), and the others are budded afterwards." Recently I and 

 my family were spending the summer holidays at Muritai, on the other 

 side of the bay, where a company of Italian fishermen draw their seine 

 nets ashore on fine evenings. There were always a few large examples, 

 10 in. to 12 in. in diameter, with 10 or 11 equal arms, and often some smaller 

 ones with a less number of unequal arms (the smaller the specimen the 

 less the number of arms), and on one occasion my son Harry found two 

 very young ones among the refuse of the net. These had only 2 arms each, 

 and measured about 1 in. between the tips of the arms. The 2 arms of 

 both examples were the same size and equally developed, and one specimen 

 had one and the other two little tubercles on the side of the disc — the 

 beginnings of other arms just starting to bud out. It therefore appears 

 probable that the young of this species have only 2 arms at first, and the 



