ECHINODERMATA 



Asteroidea 



Order: PHANEROZONA 



Suborder: Valvulosa 

 Family: OREASTERIDAE 



Genus: CULCITA Agassiz 

 Culcita novae-guinae Muller and Troschel 



Plates 69 and 70 



Type : The type was collected in New Guinea by Salomon Mul- 

 ler and is deposited in the Leyden Museum. 



Distribution : This littoral species appears to have the center 

 of its distribution in New Guinea, the Philippines and Moluccan 

 seas and is also known northward as far as Japan, westward to 

 Mauritius and eastward to the Society Islands. The following 

 reliable records for it have been established: Japan: Ryukyu 

 Archipelago (Goto); Kagoshima (Fisher); Philippine Islands: 

 Zebu, Malanipa Island, 10 fathoms (Sladen) ; "Albatross" Station 

 5136, off Jolo Light, Jolo, 22 fathoms; Tictauan Island, east of 

 Zamboanga, Mindanao, reef opposite Cebu, Cebu, Tataan, Si- 

 maluc Islands, Tawi-Tawi Islands, Sulu Archipelago, Sablayan 

 Bay, Mindoro; Straits of San Bernadino, San Jacinto (Leipoldt, 

 as plana) ; Eastern Archipelago (Sladen) ; Sunda Islands (Koeh- 

 ler) ; Amboina, Java, Padong, west coast of Sumatra, Mascarenes, 

 New Guinea, Marshall Isles, Mascarenes; as plana, from Fiji 

 Islands, Samoa (Hartlaub) ; Vavau, Tonga Islands, Ponape, Caro- 

 line Islands, reef, Papeete, Society Islands, these all from "Alba- 

 tross" stations (Ludwig) ; Tahiti (Boone) ; Mauritius, as plana 

 (Hartlaub). 



Material examined: Three magnificent specimens, from the 

 reefs, Venus Point, Tahiti, Society Islands, August 15, 1931, ob- 

 tained by the "Alva." 



Notes on Tahitian specimens : The smallest of the "Alva" 

 specimens, all three of which come from Tahiti, measures R=95 

 millimeters; form massive, pentagonal, with arcuate sides, the 

 thickness of the specimen being approximately one-half of the R ; 

 abactinal surface flattish, covered with a tough skin; papular 



