1890.] NATURAL SCIENCRS OF PHILADELPHIA. 331 



Beaufort, N. C. (Nachtrieb). South Carolina (Ives).' Georgia 

 and East Florida (Say). Tampa Bay, West Florida (Ives.) Flor- 

 ida Channel (L. Agassiz). Vera Cruz (Midler and Troschel). St. 

 Thomas, St. Croix (Liitken). St. Vincent (Gray). 60 ra. N. He 

 Jolbo ; Banc de Yucatan (Perrier.) 



There appears to be no important difference between Astropecten. 

 articulates of Say a,nd Astropecten Valeneiennii of Miiller and Tros- 

 chel. The only supposed difference between the two species was the 

 existence of two rows of spines upon the supero-lateral plates of the 

 latter, in distinction to one row in the former species. But upon ex- 

 amination this character proves to be very variable. PerrierMescribes 

 a specimen of Astropecten articulatiis in which the spines upon the 

 supero-marginal plates are entirely lacking, and an examination of 

 the specimens in the collection of this Academy has convinced me 

 that this character is subject to great variation. Both series of 

 spines may be developed along the whole length of the arm or one 

 or both may be more or less imperfectly developed, or according to 

 Professor Perrier they may be both entirely absent. Professor Per- 

 rier found upon examination of original specimens that Astropecten 

 Valeneiennii was identical with Astropecten duplicatus of Gray, and 

 Astropecten variabilis of Liitken. Miiller and Troschel described 

 their species from a specimen obtained at Vera Cruz. 



OpMura cinerea, Muller and Troschel, System iter Asteriden, p. 87. 



Lyman, Mem. Mus. Comp. ZooL, Vol. I, p. 27. 



Ophioderma Antillaruni, Lutken, Vidensk. Selsk. Skrift. Bd. V., 1859, ji. 100, 

 Tab. 1, fig. 1. 



A single specimen of this species was brought up with a coral at 

 Vera Cruz, from about eight feet of water. 



It is distributed throughout the West Indies, upon the Florida 

 reefs, and southward as far as the Abrolhos Islands, Brazil. 



Tortugas, Fla.; Key Biscayne, Fla. ; St. Thomas ; Jeremie, Hayti ; 

 south of Vera Cruz in the Gulf of Mexico; Aspinwall; Bahia, 

 Brazil, 7-20 fiths. (Lyman). St. Jan, 1 fath. ; St. Thomas, 1 foot 

 to 4 fiths. (Liitken). St. Barthelemy (Ljungnan). Fernando de 

 Noronha ; Parahyba do Norte ; Plataforma ; Mar Grande ; Bay of 

 Bahia ; Abrolhos Reefs (Rathbun). 



^ Catalogue of the Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea in the collection of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1889. 

 p. 169. 



2 Arch. Zool. Exp. t. .5, 1876, p. 291. 



