172 BULLETIN OF THE 



of liis original description of P. decorus as a diagnosis of P. mUllcri, witli a ref- 

 erence under the latter name to the specimen which he had before him when 

 describing P. decorus. He stated tliat the two outer radials of P. asteria are 

 imited by syzygy, and further added that " the arrangement of the joints and the 

 syzygics in the cup is the same in P. riiiillcrl as in P. asteria, only the syzygy 

 between the second radial and the radial axillary is not so complete." This 

 description obviously refers to a ligamentous articulation as distinguished from 

 a true syzygy on the (jne hand, and from a muscular joint on the other ; and it 

 is by no means in accordance with Liitken's very positive statements * as to the 

 presence of a syzygy between the two outer radials of P. miclleri. Neither does 

 Sir Wyville's description of the nodes as occtirring about every twelfth joint 

 agree with Liitken's diagnosis, wliich only records 4-10 internodal joints in P. 

 miilleri. As a matter of fact there are 11 or 12 internodal joints in P. decorus, 

 and there is no syzygy at all between the two outer railials, but only a ligamen- 

 tous articulation such as occurs in the majority of the Ncocrinoidea, and has 

 often been wrongly spoken of as a syzygy, though clearly distinguished from 

 it by Midler. 



Had Sir Wyville lived to work out the " Blake" collectign more fully than 

 he was able to do before his health gave way, I cannot but think that he would 

 have returned to his original views as to the distinctness of his P. decorvs from 

 Oersted's P. mUllcri. The two species have really no sort of resemblance to 

 one another, diflering in all the characters of the stem, the cirri, tlie calyx, and 

 the arms. 



Curiously enough, P. decorus appears to be the most connnon species of tlie 

 genus in tlie Caribbean Sea. One of the "Blake" specimens is remarkable for 

 the total absence of cirri along the whole of one face of the stem ; while at one 

 of the nodes two more cirri are missing, so that there are only two present 

 instead of the usual five. 



P. blakei n. sp. 



Stem .slender, not reaching 4 mm. in diameter with 5-7 internodal joints. 

 Nodal joints not enlarged. The small circular cirrus-sockets do not nearly 

 reach their upj^er edges, and extend but slightly downwards on to the hy- 

 pozygals. 



Slender cirri composed of 25 joints and barely 20 mm. long. 



Lowest limit of the interarticular pores from the sixth to the tenth node. 



The two outer radials united by a ligamentous articulation. Usually only 4 

 arms on each ray. Primary divisions of 1-4 (distichal) joints, of which the 

 first two are united by a ligamentous articulation. If 4 distichals are present, 

 the second bears a pinnule and the two outer ones form a syzygy. The first 

 fn;e brachial bears a pinnule, and the second is usually a syzygial joint, while 

 other syzygies occur on the arms at very irregular intervals. The proximal face 



Loc. oil., pp. 201, 202. 



