SEA LILIES, STARFISHES, ETC. — CLARK. 53 



will be necessary before we can be sure that we are dealing 

 with only a single species. 



Locs. — East of Maria Island, Tasmania, 78 fathoms. 



Between Geraldton and Cape Naturahste, Western Aus- 

 traha. 



Grenus Ophidiastee,, L. Agassiz, 



Ophidiaster gonfertus,! 5^. nov. 

 (Plate XV., fig. 1-2.) 



R = 81 mm. ; r=-9 mm. ; R = 9r. Br=10 mm. ; R=8 br. 

 Br at middle of ray =10 mm. ; at tip=6 mm. Disk small ; 

 rays 5, long and cylindrical. Abactinal plates in 3 regular 

 series, about equal in size to marginals. Papular areas in 8 

 regular series, one on each side of ray, on actinal surface ; 

 each area contains 15-20 papulae. All abactinal and mar- 

 ginal plates more or less conspicuously tumid. Entire 

 animal clothed in a densely granular skin ; on papular areas, 

 there are 30-40 granules, or even more, to each square milli- 

 meter, but on convexities of abactinal plates, there may be 

 only 10-15, though there are often more. Madreporite single, 

 2-3 mm. in diameter. Terminal plate scarcely more than a 

 miUimeter in diameter, bare. Adambulacral plates short and 

 numerous ; on the furrow-margin are 2 blunt, rounded, but 

 flattened spines, about 1 mm. long ; the aboral is a trifle the 

 smaller as a rule ; the tips of these adambulacral spines are 

 separated from each other by granules such as cover the 

 surface of plates ; near the mouth each plate carries an oval, 

 blunt, flattened spine about a milHmeter long and rather more 

 than its own length from the furrow-series ; distally, the.se 

 subambulacral spines often occur only on every other plate 

 and the transition from being on every plate to being on every 

 other plate may be abrupt ; in such cases the spines near the 

 mouth seem crowded. Oral plates not peculiar, small and 

 completely buried in granules. Pedicellariae more or less 

 abundant everywhere, but particularly near the mouth and 

 on the papular areas ; they are of the well-known type 

 occurring in 0. germani, 0. lorioli, etc. ; the whole organ is 

 about .75 mm. long by .25 mm. wide and each jaw has 3-5 

 teeth. Colour (dry), yellow-brown, 



1. t7ore/ert««= crowded ; in reference to the tendency of the subambu- 

 acral spines to be very near together proximally. 



