ASTEROIDEA 265 



Astropecten irregularis pontoporaeus Sladen 



Astropecten pontoporaeus Sladen, J. Linn. Soc, xvii, 1883, p. 259; 1889, p. 210, pi. 35, figs, i, 2; 



pi. 38, figs. 10-12. — Clark, 1923, p. 249. 

 Astropecten irregularis pontoporaeus Doderlein, 1917, p. 75, pi. i, fig. 5; pi. 7, figs. 9, 9a, 10, lOrt. 

 Astropecten irregularis var. pontoporaeus Clark, 1926, p. 6.— Mortensen, 1933, p. 232. 

 St. 91. Simon's Town, False Bay, South Africa, 35 m., 9 specimens. 



The specimens range in size from R 9 mm. to R 45 mm. and are typical since they are 

 from the type locality. Colour note: aboral surface pale apricot with pale mauve, a 

 deeper mauve band along centre of rays. 



Apparently both Clark and Mortensen regard this as a valid subspecies, which means 

 a geographic race if it signifies anything. May one suggest therefore that it is time to 

 abandon the term " variety " which is often used to name any one of a number of somatic 

 variations that have no geographic or even ecologic implication. For the subspecies the 

 straight trinomial has been in good standing among zoologists for over half a century. 



Genus Luidia Forbes 



Luidia Forbes, Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc, vni, 1839, p. 123. Type L.fragilissima = L. ciliaris, 

 designated, Fisher, 191 1, p. 105. See Doderlein, 1920, revision. 



Subgenus Luidia Forbes 



Hemicjtemis Miiller & Troschel, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, April 1840, p. 105. Type L. ciliaris 

 (Philippi), designated, Fisher, 191 1, p. 105.— Doderlein, 1920, pp. 217, 244. 



The citation of a subgenus for the ciliaris group of Luidia is more to correct an error 

 of Doderlein's than an expression of confidence in the subgenera which he rather 

 lavishly created. When a genus is subdivided, it seems to me axiomatic that the section 

 which includes the original type-species should retain the original name — in this case 

 Luidia, and not its obvious synonym Hemicnemis. 



For the benefit of future workers, and in no way as a criticism of Doderlein's splendid 

 memoir, I wish to record the omission of Goto's^ two Japanese species, Luidia yesoensis 

 (Hokkaido) and L. moroisoana (Misaki). 



The new species, described below, while resembling ciliaris in a general way departs 

 rather radically in having the inferomarginal armature different on alternate plates. The 

 number of rays, 10, is the highest in this section of Luidia. 



Luidia heterozona sp.nov. 



(Fig. M, 4-4^; Plate XXIII) 



Diagnosis. Rays lo; rays narrower than in ciliaris, the upper inferomarginal spines 



as long as breadth of abactinal area plus superomarginal plates ; inferomarginal spines 



bristling, 2 and 3 in fairly regular alternation ; abactinal, superomarginal, inferomarginal, 



1 Seitaro Goto, A Descriptive Monograph of Japanese Asteroidea, J. Coll. Sci., Tokyo Imp. Univ., xxix, 

 1914. PP- 301-11- 



