OPHIOCHITONIDAE 



299 



to practise self-division, three of the specimens in hand having the three arms in re- 

 generation. This is not known to be the case in any other species of Ophionereis, as, 

 indeed, self-division does not normally occur in five-armed Ophiurids. The fact that 

 only three specimens out of nine show any trace of self-division indicates that this 

 method of propagation is not constant, but evidently occurs only in a certain percentage 

 of the specimens ; still it is common enough to be regarded as a normal feature of the 

 species. 



In his memoir on the Echinoderms in Michaelsen's Meeresfauna Westafrikas 

 Koehler does not record any species of Ophionereis from the African coast. Evidently he 

 overlooked that Marktanner-Turneretscher {Beschreibiingen neiier Ophiiiriden und 

 Bemerkimgen zu bekannten. Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmuseums, 11, 1887, p. 301) has 



Fig. 28. Ophionereis sexradia, n.sp. Part of oral side {a) 

 and dorsal side {b). -20. 



recorded a small specimen of Ophionereis reticulata from " Westafrika". It appears, 

 however, that there must be some error in regard to this specimen. The locality given 

 for it, 0° 7' N, 23"^ 25' W, is about in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in very great 

 depths. That an Ophionereis reticulata (or any other Ophionereis) should occur here may 

 well be said to be out of the question, and the label of this specimen must evidently be 

 wrong. If Ophionereis reticulata does actually occur off West Africa it is rather strange 

 that it has not hitherto been met with there. At any rate, Ophionereis sexradia is the 

 first species of Ophionereis that has been actually found to occur on the West African 

 coast. 



Ophionereis novae-zelandiae, n.sp. 



St. 934. 17. viii. 32. 34° 11' S, 172° 10' E, Cook Strait, New Zealand, 98 m. 1 specimen. 



Diameter of disk 4 mm. ; arms ca. 30 mm. long, thus some seven to eight times the 

 diameter of disk. 



Scales of the dorsal side of disk rather coarse, uniform; the primary plates are small, 

 but distinct, and form a fairly conspicuous rosette. The radial shields are small, oval. 



