1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 447 



face are larger than in the one above described and very stout, but have 

 the same arrangemeut. Those of the median series of the rays and of 

 the center of the disk are generally grouped in clusters of two to five 

 spines, variable in size and irregularly placed. The ventral and lateral 

 spines of the rays form five regular rows. 



Three specimens from San Lorenzo (15522), having about the same 

 size as the single specimen from Ancou (8832), are distinguished by 

 their much smaller and more numerous spines, which, however, retain 

 about the same shape and the same general arrangement. The spines 

 are smaller than in many specimens of mlcrobrachia, and on the disk 

 generally form short, straight, connecting rows, dividing the surface 

 into small, irregular polygonal areas. The spines forming the lateral 

 abactiual rows of the rays are generally more slender than those upon 

 the disk, while the median series are often grouped as in the large speci- 

 men above described. This species is readily distinguished from E. 

 Cumingii and E. niicrohracJiia, by the greater i^roportionate length of 

 the rays and the arrangemeut of the spines upon the upper surface. 

 From H. multiradiata it differs markedly in having more numerous and 

 generally shorter rays, and in the arrangement of the spines upon the 

 upper side of the rays. 



RECORD OF SPECIMENS IN THE COLLECTION. 



Ecuador; Dr. W. H. Jones, U. S. N., 1884 : 



Mauta, saudy beach, young specimen (10993). 



San Lorenzo (15522). 

 Peru; Dr. W. H. Jones, U. S. N., 1884 : 



Aucon (8832). 



Paita (12574). 



Precise locality not recorded (15525). 

 Peru; W. E. Curtis 1886 (15906). 



Heliaster multiradiata Gray. 



Asterias {Heliaster) multiradiata Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi., p. 180 



1840. Verrill, Trans. Connecticut Acad. Arts and Sci., i, part 2, p. 292 



1867. 

 Heliaster EubiHgii Xantus, Proc. Pbila. Acad., sii, p. 568, 1860. Verrill, 



Trans. Conn. Acad, i, part 2, 1867-1871, pp. 292, 328, 344, 576, 594 ; Amer. 



Journ. Sci., xii, p. 387, 1869. 



Two specimens of Heliaster, collected at the Galapagos Islands by Dr. 

 W. H. Jones, U. S. ]S., have been referred by the writer to the multira- 

 diata of Gray, the types of which were obtained at the same place. Dr. 

 Gray's description is very brief, and it would be unsafe to apply it to 

 any specimens collected elsewhere than at the special locality which fur- 

 nished the types. In the measurements of the rays given by Gray, some 

 of our specimens agree, if we consider the length of the rays to include 

 both their free and united portions, or from the tips to the disk proper, 

 which is much better defined in this species than in the others of the 

 genus. In the use of the term compressed, in describing the shape of 



