JAPANESE ASTEROIDEA. 



495 



laceras B. ylbhm mmicatus, Casteïlum 

 monianmn cUcenchis.^ Deu samrae Art 

 findes afbilclet hos Seba t. YII f. 3 

 som ' Pentdceros glbbiis <fe muricatus 

 seil Gdstellnm montmmm.^ De eneste 

 Forfattere, der i disse Figiu'er have 

 erkjeudt en egeu Art, ere Blainyille, 

 som citerer Lincks Figiu' til sin As- 

 terias Lindm, Gray, som henförer 

 begge Afbilduinger til sin ' Penta- 

 ceros muricatus ' (der vel egenlig op- 

 stilles alene paa dem, thi det antydes 

 ikke, at han selv har seet et Ex- 

 emplar af den), og Dujardin og Hupe, 

 som (uden Tvivl efter Gray) opföre 

 en Oreasfcr muricatus som beboende 

 ' de indiske Have '; heller ikke hos 

 disse sidste Forfattere tyder noget 

 paa, at de mere end deres Forgeen- 

 gere have havt Leilighed til selv at 

 see Arten, hvilken derfor uden Tvivl 

 indtil de senere Tider maa have 

 vjeret meget sjelden i Samhngerne. 



" Mnseet besidder imidlertid, deels 

 fra seldre, deels fra yngre Tid, 4 

 Exemplarer af noget forskjellig Stör- 

 relse af deune Oreaster Linchii 

 (Blv.), og jeg er derfor ret godt 

 istand til at oplyse dens Formforhold. 

 Et af dem er ifölge en vedlagt Notits 

 af afdöde Dr. Beck, fra Madagascar; 

 to af de andre fra Zanzibar. For at 

 .Aldersforskjellighederne kunne traade 

 desto tydeligere frem, vil jeg beskrive 

 hvert af disse 4 Exemplarer for sig, 

 men dog dv£ele meest ved det störste 

 og det mindste. 



" Det mindste Exemplar (A) har 

 en st jrre Radius af 55 mm, en mindre 



B. (jihhus muricatus, CasteUum mou- 

 tanum (Ucendus.' The same species 

 is found figured in fSEBA t. VH f. 3 

 as * Pentaceros ijlbbus <fe mmicatus 

 seu CasteUum montanum.' The only 

 authors, who have recognised in these 

 figures an independent species, are 

 Blainville, Avho assigns Linck's figm-e 

 to his Asterlas Lincldi, Gray, who 

 refers both figm'es to liis ' Pentaceros 

 muricatus ' (which is properly speak- 

 ing based on those figures alone, 

 because it is not indicated that he 

 has himself seen an example of it), 

 and Dujardin and Hupe, who (doubt- 

 less after Gray) cites an Oreaste.r 

 muricatus as inhabiting the India^i 

 seas ; nor is anything said by thes;^ 

 last authors to show that they had 

 occasion to see the species with their 

 own eyes any more than their j)re- 

 decessors, whence it must liaA-e been 

 very rare in the collections, up till 

 recently. 



The Musàum, however, possesses, 

 partly since long, partly since recently, 

 4 examples of some different sizes of 

 this Oreaster Linchii (Blv.), and I 

 am therefore in good position to shed 

 light on its form relations. One of 

 them is according to an accompany- 

 ing notice by the late Dr. Beck, from 

 Madagascar ; two of the rest from 

 Zanzibar. In order tliat the differ- 

 ences due to age may come out the 

 more distinctly I will describe e^^c]l 

 of these 4 examples by itself, but 

 dwell most on the largest and tlie 

 smallest. 



