1890.] NATUKAL SCIKNOES OF PHILADKLPHIA. 325 



than twice as long as the width of the body, bhiiit at the end, with 

 eleven rows of acute distant spines." According to Miiller and 

 Troschel their sj)ecies is distinguished by its small and numerous 

 spines. The authors who have described the form subsequently, viz 

 Liitken, Dujardin and Hupe, and Rathbun have characterized the 

 species principally by this character, and have associated with it 

 that of slender arms. 



Miiller and Troschel also refer to Seba's i figux'e of Pentadacfylos- 

 aster .tpinosus regularis virginianus as an illustration of their species. 

 Not only, however, is this figure entirely out of accord with their de- 

 scription but it is almost identical with the figure of Pentadactylos- 

 aster spinosns regidaris of Linck, '■' which forms their type of 

 Echinaster spinosus, the species described immediately before Echin- 

 aster Bra-'iiliensis. Seba's specimen came from Virginia and he dis- 

 tinctly identified his figures with Linck's previous figure. Both 

 figures are good representations of Echinaster spi7iosus, with large 

 distant spines, and cannot by any stretch of the imagination be con- 

 sidered as identical with Echinaster Brasiliensis. 



The figure of this species given by Miiller and Troschel does not 

 at all agree with their description of it, but rather with that of their 

 Echinaster spinosus. It is possible that the figure may have been 

 wrongly named. 



If the views expressed above are correct it is very doubtful whether 

 Echinaster Brasiliensis has any synonyms. 



This species is distributed throughout the West Indies and extends 

 northwards to the Florida channel and southwards to Rio Janeiro. 



Florida channel (A. Agassiz). Kingston, Jamaica ; Puerto Cabello; 

 Rio Janeiro (Liitken). Brazil (M. & T.). Rio Formoso, Brazil 

 (Rathbun). Cap Vert, Brazil, (Ludwig). Rio Janeiro, (Perrier.). 



The following list represents the species of Echinaster^ found in 

 waters of the Western Tropical Atlantic, 



Echinaster spinosus, Retzius. Dissert. Sist. Spec. Cog. Asteriarum, 1805, p. 18. 

 Asterids echiiiophora, Lamarck, Hist. Nat. Aniin. Sans. Vert. t. ii, p. 560. 

 Echinaster senilis, Say. J«ur. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1st Ser., Vol. 5, p. 143. 



The two specimens referred to by Say in his description of Echi- 

 naster sentus, which were presented by Lieut. Gandtt, are preserved 

 1 Thesauri Vol. iii, p. 13, Tab. 7, Fig. 4. 



- De Stellis Mariiiis, Tab. iv, Fig. 7. 



'^Echinaster serpcntariiis (Val.) Miiller and Troschel, has been placed by the 

 author in a separate genus, see below. 



