SEA LILIES, STARFISHES, ETC. — CLARK. 13 



all pinnules, much wider than high, and somewhat com- 

 pressed, especially at distal margin ; on P2, P3, Pa, and P(„ 

 this compressed distal margin becomes a conspicuous project- 

 ing keel on segments 2 and 3 ; beyond Ps, the pinnules 

 gradually lengthen and become more slender until they may 

 exceed 20 mm. in length and have 35 segments. 



Mouth radial in position, not very close to margin of disk, 

 with equally developed food-grooves running to all the arms. 

 There is no plating of disk or of the oral surface of arms and 

 pinnules, but the membrane covering the disk is, when fully 

 dried, seen to be filled with calcareous granules of very small 

 size. Colour (in alcohol or dried), light fawn-colour with or 

 without purple markings ; perhaps in life all would show 

 these purple markings more or less clearly ; when well- 

 developed they appear as longitudinal stripes one on each 

 side of each arm, with a branch runnning up each pinnule ; 

 distally the stripes fade away altogether ; proximally the 

 stripes on the inner side of a pair of arms unite at the tip of 

 the axillary from which they arise, while those on the outer 

 side broaden out and cover the radials except for a narrow 

 median area ; even the centrodorsal may be purplish ; the 

 disk and oral surface of the arms are yellowish, quite yellow 

 when dry. 



Whether this fine comatulid should be considered distinct 

 from C. Solaris is, of course, a matter of opinion. The 

 locality is some four hundred miles further south than C. 

 Solaris has been recorded and the depth is considerably greater 

 than any published for that species. In view of these facts, 

 it seems to me that the absence of cirri and reduction of the 

 centrodorsal plate, combined with the very different terminal 

 combs of the oral pinnules and the absence of plating on disk 

 and oral surface of the arm bases, warrant the recognition 

 of the form by a different name. In C. Solaris the terminal 

 comb of Pi consists of 35-40 segments and occupies nearly 

 half the pinnule ; the shape of the individual teeth is, more- 

 over, very different from what is seen in C. cratera. The 

 comatulid taken by the " Alert " at Port Molle, Queensland, 

 referred by Carpenter to C. Solaris, but specially discussed 

 because of the absence of cirri and the unplated disk, is very 

 possibly a specimen of C. cratera. 



Lac. — Eight miles east of Sandon Bluffs, New South Wales, 

 35-40 fathoms. Fourteen specimens. 



