ASTEROIDEA 99 



by two or three males, which partly cover the female, so that 

 a sort of coi3ulation may be said to take place. The female does 

 not rest over the eggs, and thus does not protect its brood. The 

 development is direct, there being no pelagic larval stage. ^ It 

 has been maintained that this species is a proterancb?ic herma- 

 phrodite, but this has not been confirmed. There is a possibility 



Fig. 56. — Asterina gihhosa ; dorsal (a) and oral side (b). Nat. size. 

 (From Koehler, Faune de France.) 



that it may sometimes develop parthenogenetically (British south 

 coast). The breeding season is in British seas May- June, in the 

 Mediterranean somewhat earlier, April-May, more rarely already 

 in March. 



In British seas this species occurs along the south and west 

 coasts as far north as Ross-shire, but not on the North Sea coasts. 

 To the south it occurs as far as the Canaries, the Azores, and the 

 Mediterranean. Bathy metrical distribution 0-ca. 125 m. 



2. Palmipes Linck. 

 (Syn. Anseropoda Nardo.) 



Body pentagonal or subpentagonal, flat and very thin. Along 

 the rays a crest-like thickening. Spines very small, in close, 

 paxillse-like groups. No pedicellariae. Papulae confined to centre 

 of disk and the mid-Une of rays. Arms five or (in some Indo- 

 Pacific species) many. 



Only one species in British (and European) seas. 



^ Some species of Asterina liave true pelagic larvae of the Brachiolaria 

 type. 



