15G BULLETIN OF THE 



Ant. Sarsii. Both the American and the " Porcupine " specimens are 

 larger and more stoutly built than any Scandinavian ones that I have 

 ever seen. This is especially the case with the American specimens, 

 which have a considerable resemblance to some forms of A7it. Ilagenii. 

 But the characters of the oral pinnules are entirely different in the two 

 species. Although the number of their component joints maybe the 

 same, about 25, their dimensions are very ditl'erent. In Ant. Sarsii the 

 lower joints of the oral pinnules are clear and glassy, and remarkably 

 long, their length being four or five times their width ; while in Ant. 

 Hagenii the joints are more opaque, and also shorter and thicker, their 

 length rarely exceeding twice their width. Both species agree with 

 A^it. rosacea and Ant. celtlca Barrett, sp., which is identical with Ant. 

 phalangium Miill. sp., in the absence of any basal star in connection with 

 the rosette, such as is found in every other species of Antedon or Acthm- 

 metra the calyx of which I have been able to dissect.* 



I have pointed out above that four distinct types of Comatulre have 

 hitherto passed under the name Ant. Hagenii. In like manner the 

 specific designation meridionalis, given by Mr. Agassiz f to a ten-armed 

 Comatula which has long been known from the coast of South Carolina, 

 has been applied to almost every specimen with ten arms and an eccen- 

 tric mouth, and even in two cases to forms with more than ten arms, 

 owing to some of the rays forking twice. All of these are true Actino- 

 me^rcE with combed oral pinnules,| and the name Antedon meridionalis 

 must therefore be exchanged for Actinometra meridionalis A. Agass. sp. 



Among the many individuals sent to me under this specific name, 

 there are at least four distinct types. Mr. Pourtales § seemed to think 

 that the species varied considerably with age, " older and larger speci- 

 mens looking so much more massive than the young, that they at first 

 sight appear like different species, although the usual specific char- 

 acters agree." But almost all the characters given by him in his specific 

 description || apply equally well to every ten-armed Actinometra which 

 has no syzygy in the radials or lowest brachials, including those of the 

 Eastern seas, such as Miiller's species Act. Cumingii and also Act. 

 echinoptera (loc. V), which are nevertheless perfectly distinct from Act. 

 meridionalis and from one another. Under these circumstances the 



* On the Genus Actinometra Miill. Trans. Linn. Soc., Sec. Seiies, Zoology, Vol. 

 n. pp. 96-100. 



t Seaside Studies in Natural History, p. 121. 

 X Actinometra, loc. cit., pp. 20, 28. 

 § Bull. Mus. Comp. Zobl., Vol. Vl No. 9, p. 214. 

 II Ibid., Vol. L No. 11, p. 355. 



