JAPANESE ASTEROIDEA. 291 



plates between the first inferomarginals and the month -plates, 

 and a single series of plates extends more than half-way out into 

 the arms between the adambulacral and the inferomarginal plates. 

 Each ventrolateral plate is provided with a prominent, usually 

 more or less flattened projection on the actinal side, which 

 bears some ten to fifteen sharp, slender straight spines, one or 

 two of which are usually larger than the others. The projection 

 becomes less and less conspicuous as it proceeds out into the 

 arms. In the distal part of the arms the ventrolateral plates are 

 very small and are ankylosed with the adambulacrals. 



Paxillce. — The paxillae are comparatively large and very 

 closely set. As seen from the surface they are more or less 

 roundish-polygonal in the disk and rectangular in the arms. Near 

 the tip of the arms, however, the paxillae tend to become more 

 or less roundish again. In nearly all cases there is a clear dis- 

 tinction between the central and peripheral coronal armature, the 

 centrals being more or less rounded and granular, while the 

 peripherals are fine and slender or almost capillary in character 

 (PI. V, fig. 87). The number of these two forms of coronal 

 spinelets varies a great deal according to the size of the paxillae ; 

 on one of the largest there may be as many as seventeen or 

 eighteen central granules and some thirty to thirty -five peripherals, 

 the latter always arranged in a single row, although at times 

 the row may be more or less irregular. On this point, the 

 specimens from Coromandel and Batavia referred to by Pekkier 

 appear to be different from any of the Japanese specimens I have 

 examined. In the specimen from Coromandel the coronal arma- 

 ture consisted of hexagonal granules which were finer and longer 

 along^ the margin, while in the one from Batavia there was gene- 



