18 FETCH . 



5 mm. from the base, a second at a distance of 1-2 cm., and 

 the remaining half sphts into two at 1 -8 cm. 



(e) Specimen with fourteen arms arranged in pairs. Dia- 

 meter of disc 2 cms. ; length of paired arms 1 cm., dividing 

 at a distance of about .3 mms. from the base. 



(/) Specimen with sixteen arms, ten single and three well- 

 marked pairs. Diameter of disc 2*3 cms.; length of arms 

 1 • 5 cm. 



Ceylon examples of Asero'e rubra vary in total diameter 

 from 4 cms. to 12 cms. The nuniber of arms is fourteen, 

 sixteen, or eighteen, and these vary in length on different 

 specimens from 4 mnis. to 4 cms. Some specimens have the 

 arms quite distinct, while others have them arranged in pairs. 

 But these are not different species or even varieties, for both 

 paired and single arms may occur on the same specimen. 

 The greatest number of arms united into one group that has 

 been observed up to the present is four ; this occurred on a 

 specimen <tn which the remaining arms were distinctly 

 jiaired. 



\n a previous paper (Ann. Perad. , IV. , pt. 4) I described and 

 figured t hat j)art of the disc wliich bears the gleba, as deep red, 

 covered with low, wavy ridges, and being slightly thickened. 

 Further examples have shown that this feature is subject 

 to variation. In some examples the thickening of the disc, 

 i.e., of the upper wall of the chambers which form it, thins 

 away at the margin of the deep red area, and the wall there 

 becomes of ordinary thickness. But in other cases it becomes 

 thicker at the margin, and tlie thickening layer separates and 

 recurves from the. disc tiiere, giv^ing at first siglit the impression 

 that the gleba is borne on a circular plate which overlies the 

 disc. Further, the low ridges underlining the gleba, which are 

 little more than lines in some specimens, may be as much as 

 1 -5 mm. high ; they are then irregularly curved and bent over 

 sideways, and (»ft<'n broken up into short lengths oi- ])rojecting 

 tubercles, thus giving the disc a ragged a])|)earance quite 

 different from that previously illustrated (i\nn. IVrad., IV.. PI. 

 XVI.. fig. 12). In some eases these ridges are united above, 

 and thus fo lu. here and there, an additional layer of irregular 

 chambers. 



