OPHIOLEPIDAE 307 



to the young ones — not to the mother, who must necessarily be entirely inactive, at most 

 widening the genital slit as much as its small size allows. 



One of the specimens 5-5 mm. in diameter from St. WS 840 has six arms. It looks 

 rather different from the typical five-armed form. The buccal shields are much narrower, 

 almost oval ; the genital slits are somewhat longer, with a series of papillae along the 

 edge. There is no supplementary plate to the dorsal arm plates. I think this specimen 

 only an individual variation ; the different shape of the buccal shields is, evidently, in the 

 main due to the narrower space caused by the six rays. The other specimen from this 

 same locality is rather intermediate between the six-rayed specimen and the common 

 form in regard to the shape of the buccal shields. 



Ophioceres incipiens, Koehler 

 (Plate VII, fig. 7.) 



Ophioceres incipiens, Koehler, 1922. Austral. Antarct. Exped. Echinod. Ophiuroidea, p. 48, 



pi. Ixxxiv, figs. 1-6, 13-14. 

 O. iticipiens, Koehler, 1923. Swedish South Polar Exped. Asteries et Ophiures, p. 121. 

 O. incipiens, G. A. Smith, 1923. Report on the Echinoderms coll. during the voyage of tlie 'Quest' 



(1921-2). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 9 Sen, xn, p. 370. 

 O. incipiens. Hertz, 1926. Deutsche Siidpolar-Exped. Ophiuroiden, p. 25. 



St. 27. 15. iii. 26. West Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, no m. 10 specimens. 



St. 39. 25. iii. 26. East Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, 179-235 m. i specimen. 



St. 42. I. iv. 26. Off mouth of Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, 120-204 m. 10 specimens. 



St. 140. 23. xii. 26. Stromness Harbour to Larsen Point, South Georgia, 122-136 m. 2 specimens. 



St. 144. 5. i. 27. Off mouth of Stromness Harbour, South Georgia, 155-178 m. 8 specimens. 



St. 152. 17. i. 27. 53° 51' S, 36° 18' W, South Georgia, 245 m. 6 specimens. 



St. 156. 20. i. 27. 53° 51' S, 36° 21' W, South Georgia, 200-236 m. 8 specimens. 



St. 159. 20. i. 27. 53° 48' S, 36° 08' W, South Georgia, i6o m. 4 specimens. 



St. 160. 7. ii. 27. Off Shag Rocks, South Georgia, 177 m. 10 specimens. 



St. 170. 23. ii. 27. Off Cape Bowles, Clarence Island, 342 m. Several specimens. 



St. 175. 2. iii. 27. Bransfield Strait, South Shetlands, 200 m. 6 specimens. 



St. 474. 12. xi. 30. I mile W of Shag Rocks, South Georgia, 199 m. 5 specimens. 



St. MS 71. 9. iii. 26. East Cumberland Bay, South Georgia, 110-60 m. i specimen. 



The specimen from St. 27 shows a very curious anomaly, two of the jaws being 

 rudimentary (Plate VII, fig. 7). 



It is a very interesting fact that often there is only one genital slit in some of the 

 interradii. 



This species is viviparous and hermaphrodite. In young specimens of ca. 5 mm. 

 diameter of disk the gonads are male, but containing also quite young eggs. In speci- 

 mens of ca. 7 mm. diameter I have found large young ones, one or two in each bursa 

 (or gonad ; cf. below). The young ones are rather large, 1-5 mm. in diameter of disk, and 

 with five to six joints in the arms. As the genital slits are scarcely i mm. long, the young 

 ones must change their shape considerably in order to get out, though the difficulties 

 are not quite of the same order of magnitude as in Ophiolebella biscutifera. 



After the birth of these young ones the parent specimen again turns mainly male, 

 specimens oica. 8-9 mm. diameter having the gonads full of sperms (or spermatogonia), 



