JAPANESE ASTEROIDEA. 



ß45 



Farquhar ['98, p. 312] mentions this species from New Zealand on the 

 antlioritj' of Perrier and Sladen. Under the name Asterina neozelanica 

 Perrier, Farquhar writes in part as follows [:09, p. 127] : "I have col- 

 large, increasing toMards the centre, regularly imbricated, the free margin evenly rounded and 

 thin, bearing near the end a cluster of five to nine very small, nearly equal spines ; toward 

 the centre the plates become less regular in form and unequal in size, the larger ones often 

 bearing twelve or fourteen spines in a transverse cluster. Madroporic plate large and pro- 

 minent, at about one-third of the disüince from the centre to the margin. The large dorsal 

 pores are in groups on the sides and within the bases of the rays, arranged in about four rows, 

 which run parallel with the median line of the rays, with from six to twelve pores in a row. 

 A few irregularly arranged jiores between adjacent rays connect these groups. 



" Colour, when dried, dark olive-green above, yellow below, 



" From centre to end of ray 1.5 inches, to edge of disk, 8. 



" Aukland, New Zealand. — H. Edwards." 



Lütken's descrii)tion of Asterina cahbalistica is very clear and is accompanied by two figures 

 showing the two sides of the animal ['71, p. 212] : 



" Aster'üvx cahbalistica Ltk. (Taf. IV, Fig. 1.) 



" Diaijnosis. Asterina crassa, convexa, brachiis hrevihus ; spince ventrales singula; conicœ, fortes ; 

 amlndaclarum bina;; pori dorsales vulgo sinjuli ; paxilla; dors îles brachiorum médiocres, lunata;, e 

 sjnnis mtnutissimls S-16 compositœ ; interbrachiales minores, spinas 4-8 gerentes ; in parte cen- 

 trali disci in limas coalescunt, triangulum duplicem vel potius stellam pentagonam, corpus ma- 

 dreporiforme quoque circumvallantem, formantes. 



" Et Exemplar af denne nye Art er hjem- 

 bragt f ra Sydhavet af Skibshege Mölleb ; en 

 bestemtere Lokalitetsangivelse foreUgger des- 

 vœrre ikke. — Den dobbelte Sfjernefigur midt 

 paa Hyggen antager jeg vil vise sig konstant 

 og karateristisk for Arten.') 



" Denne hörer til de tykkere og mere kortar- 

 mede Asteriner ; Forholdet mellem Kadierne 

 er omtrent som 19 : 13 ; der gives altsaa paa 

 den ene Side Asterina, der ere forholdsvis 

 mere kortarmede end denne, men ogsaa Arter 

 med forholdsvis Lengere Arme. De Dele af 

 Kygsiden, der Hgge n;ermest ved Armvink- 

 lerne, ere som snedvanlig frie for Porer og 

 besatte med vel adskilte Grupper af fine 

 Smaapigge eller korte Börster, 4-8 i hver 

 (iruppe; de ere ordnede i Rœkker, der lobe 

 parallelt med Armenes Ea^her eller Axer; 

 herfra undtages dog to Rnekker, som nor- 

 mest Stjemens Omkreds I'.be jiarallelt med 

 denne og uden Tvivl modsvare de f. Ex. hos 



1) Den omtales ikke i Perrieus Eeskrivelse 

 af A. calcarata Yal. (Vali:)araiso) ; Bugplader- 

 nes Pigge ere desuden dobbelte i Biigfelter- 

 nes ydre Halvdel lios denne Art. 



One example of this new species has been 

 brought home from the South Sea by the 

 ship- physician Möller ; a more definite stite- 

 ment of the locality is however not given. — 

 The double star-shaped figure at the middle 

 of the ba-k I assume to be constant and 

 characteristic for the speciesi"*. 



This belongs to the thicker bodied and 

 shorter armed Asterin:« ; the proportion be- 

 tween the radii is nearly as 19 : 13 ; there are 

 therefore on the one side Asterinte with re- 

 latively shorter arms than this, but also those 

 with relatively longer arms. The parts of 

 the dorsiü side which he next the arm 

 angles are as usual free from pores and are 

 covered with well separated groixps of fine 

 spinelets or short bristles, 4-8 in each group ; 

 they are arranged in rows, which run paral- 

 lel with the ratlii or axes of the arms ; with 

 the exception however of two rows, which are 



1) This is not mentioned in Pereier's 

 description of A. calcarata Vax. (Yalpaniiso) ; 

 the spines of the ventral plates are moreover 

 double in the outer half of the ventral areas 

 in this species. 



