Vol. 30, pp. 63-70 March 31, 1917 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



FOUR NEW ECHINODERMS FROM THE WEST INDIES. 



BY AUSTIN H. CLARK. 



Despite the fact that the West Indian region has been the 

 scene of more intensive study than any other portion of the 

 tropical seas, hitherto unknown animal types are continually 

 being discovered there. Since the inception of the investigation 

 of the Caribbean abysses a dozen able and energetic zoologists 

 have contributed to the increase and systematization of our 

 knowledge of the echinoderm fauna, and yet new, and often 

 remarkable, types still turn up with surprising frequency. 



Of the four echinoderms described in the following pages the 

 two crinoids and the starfish were collected by the "Albatross; ' ' 

 the ophiuran was collected by Mr. John B. Henderson during 

 the course of his memorable cruise on the " Tomas Barrera." 



I. CRINOIDS. 

 Neocomatella ornata new species. 



The centrodorsal is discoidal, with a broad flat finely pitted polar area 

 4 mm. in diameter. 



The cirri are xix, 19-21, about 20 mm. long; tbe first segment is very 

 short, the second somewhat longer, the third about as long as broad, the 

 fourth and fifth the longest, about twice as long as broad, the fifth slightly 

 longer than the fourth; the fifth is a transition segment, proximally dull 

 like the preceding, but highly polished in its distal fourth ; the sixth is 

 about as long as the fourth, and the following gradually decrease in 

 length, becoming about as long as broad on the eighth or ninth, and 

 beyond slightly broader than long; the transition and following segments 

 have the distal dorsal edge prominent; after the seventh the dorsal side 

 rises evenly from the base to the tip so that the segments are trapezoidal 

 in shape, and in lateral view the cirrus has a serrate appearance; after 

 the eleventh the proximal half of the dorsal side becomes rather less pro- 

 duced, but the distal half rather more so, so that in lateral view there 



15— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 30. 1917. (63) 



