SEA LILIES, STARFISHES, ETC. — CLARK. 9 



fathoms nor those known from Sahul Bank (south of Thnor) ; 

 of the sixty-six, thirty-seven, or more than half, are known 

 only from Australia. 



Family PENTACRINITID^. 



Genus Metacrinus, P. H. Carpenter. 

 Metacrinus cyaneus,^ sj). nov. 



(Plate I.) 



Stem rather stout, apparently not exceeding 400-500 mm. 

 in length, and ranging from 5 to 8 mm. in diameter in the 

 different specimens ; pentagonal in cross section, with shghtly 

 rounded angles ; immediately beneath the calyx, the sides 

 are grooved and the angles sharp, but after five or six nodes, 

 the grooves and angles have virtually disappeared. Cirrus 

 sockets confined to the nodals, transversely oblong, the 

 shorter diameter markedly less than the height of the nodal, 

 one-fourth of which lies below the sockets. Nodals not at 

 all produced at angles, nor otherwise conspicuous, but 

 occasionally a low swelling is indicated on the rounded angle. 

 Internodals 7-15, but rarely fewer than 9 ; the uppermost 

 becomes fused with the nodal on the lower half of the stem ; 

 the upper and lower margins are prettily crenulated along 

 the suture, except on the lowest internodes ; their radial 

 faces are plane (except on uppermost internodes) while the 

 internodal angles may bear low, rounded swellings (scarcely 

 large enough to be called tubercles), though these are often 

 entirely wanting ; the internodals in some specimens are of 

 nearly uniform height, but generally alternate internodals are 

 higher than those between ; this difference may be very 

 marked, especially on the uppermost internodes ; along the 

 midradial line of the upper internodes, there is a conspicuous 

 pit between each pair of stem-segments (nodals and inter- 

 nodals alike), but this vertical series of pits becomes indis- 

 tinct at about the ninth or tenth internode and lower down 

 completely disappears ; the lower internodes have a smooth, 

 shining, porcelain-like surface, but the upper ones lack this 

 entirely . 



Cirri 50-65 mm. in length (eight to ten times the stem- 

 diameter), the longest with 60-64 segments ; basal segments 

 low (not half as high as wide), gradually becoming higher, but 

 never becoming even approximately as high as wide ; terminal 

 ■claw scarcely longer than the preceding joint, slightly curved : 



1. Kvaj/eo?=dark blue, dusky, in reference to the colour of the stem. 



