106 BRISINGIDAE. 



and most chisel-shaped; the middle spine is a trifle the widest and heaviest; 

 besides the spines, many inferomarginal plates carry a huge forficiform pedicel- 

 laria, 1.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide at base; the uppermost inferomarginal spine 

 often carries a cluster of forcipiform pedicellariae on its upper side near the 

 middle or more distally. 



Adambulacral plates short and crowded; each carries a pair of subequal, 

 flattened, narrow, chisel-shaped spines about 2.5 mm. long; many plates carry 

 also a huge forficiform pedicellaria, 1.5 mm. long by 1 mm. wide, placed on the 

 inner distal angle of the plate and hence more or less within the ambulacral 

 furrow; there are also a few very small forficiform pedicellariae scattered along 

 the sides of the furrow. Oral plates small, each with two large spines; one at 

 inner end of plate is about 3 mm. long and over a millimeter wide at its flattened 

 base ; the other is on the surface of the plate near its outer end and is distinctly 

 longer and narrower. Tube-feet distinctly quadriserial, rather slender, not very 

 crowded . 



Color, Ught brownish yellow (dried) with the spines and pedicellariae nearly 

 white. 

 Easter Island; shore. December 21, 1904. 



One specimen. 



This is one of the most interesting starfishes brought home by the Alba- 

 tross, not only because of the distinctive combination of characters which it 

 shows, but because of its locaUty. It is noteworthy indeed to find on the shores 

 of so isolated an island a well-marked member of a genus whose nearest species 

 is thousands of miles away. Yet there is no doubt that this Easter Island star- 

 fish is a tJ^3ical Stylasterias, save for the large number of rays; the other mem- 

 bers of the genus all belong to the northern hemisphere, only one occurring as far 

 south as the equator. The number of rays, the presence of three inferomarginal 

 spines and the character and distribution of the pedicellariae serve to distinguish 

 paschae from any other Stylasterias. Verrill suggested the group only as a sub- 

 genus of Orthasterias but it seems to be well-circumscribed and is a convenient 

 group to use, once the disintegration of Asterias is permitted to set in. 



Brisingidae. 



Fisher's (1917. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 20, p. 418^31) recent thorough- 

 going revision of this family, in which he recognizes fifteen genera, makes it 

 possible as never before to appreciate the diversity it shows. It also reveals 



