80 Bulletin, Vanderbilt Marine Museum, Vol. IV 



is also a row of similarly thick, but much shorter blunt spines, which 

 point outward toward the margin of the ray and are separated from 

 each other at the base by a distance equal to the length of one spine. 



References: Linckia columbiae Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 6, 

 (n. s.), p. 285, 1840.— H. L. Clark, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 vol. 32, p. 194, 1913. — Boone, Bull. Bingham Oceanog. Coll., 

 vol. II, p. 5, pi. 3, 1928. 



Family: OREASTERIDAE Fisher. 



Genus : OREASTEE Muller and Troschel. 

 Oreaster reticulatus (Linne) Muller and Troschel. 



Plates 41 and 42. 



Type: Linne cites: "Habitat in M. Indico." Muller and Troschel 

 described specimens from the east coast of America, which were depos- 

 ited in the Berlin Museum. 



Distribution: This is the largest and most massive echinoderm 

 found in the "West Indian region where it is an abundant and widely 

 distributed shallow-water species. It has been recorded from South 

 Carolina southward throughout the West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, and 

 Caribbean Sea, as far down as Abrolhos Reefs, Brazil, and is also 

 found in the Cape Verde Islands. 



Material examined: Three large, dry specimens, from Bury 

 Island Flats, West Indies, January 19, 1925. Cat. nos. 246, 247, 248. 

 Five younger specimens of various ages, in spirit, from the same 

 locality. Cat. no. 245. 



Color: According to several authors, the color of this species is 

 decidedly variable, some specimens being deep red, others of varying 

 shades of red, while some are green or greenish, and others are yellow, 

 orange or yellowish brown. 



Technical description : This is a very massive, rather rigid look- 

 ing species, with the disk high and swollen. Specimens with a diam- 

 eter of 500 mm. have been recorded. The largest of the "Ara" 

 specimens has a diameter of 300 mm. The plates of the abactinal 

 surface have a decided stellate-reticulate arrangement, leaving large 

 papular areas between them, with many small papulae. The median 

 radial row of plates is distinct, and is a little larger than the others. 

 Their proportions, imperfectly visible at the dorsal surface are long 

 and narrow and at their node there is nearly always a short, stout, 

 conical spine, both on the disk and rays. The entire surface between 



