8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 78 



ally and actinally without associated crossed pedicellariae ; integu- 

 ment thick, pulpy, in alcohol. When dried a specimen would pass 

 for an aberrant Sporasterias antarctica^ with weak dorsal skeleton. 

 One specimen carries a thick mass of eggs in the oral concavity. 



There is a lot of 13 specimens from near Teal Inlet, Falkland 

 Islands, ranging in size from R, 10 to R, 33 millimeters. Four 

 of these (R, 27 to 33 mm.) have a rather thinner skin and numerous 

 abactinal spinelets (pi. 8). When dried the abactinal skeleton is 

 seen to be much stouter than in ininuta. The specimens resemble 

 Sporasterias antarctica^ almost devoid of crossed pedicellariae and 

 Avith practically no straight pedicellariae except on furrow margin. 

 The other eight, probably collected at the same station, have the 

 thicker integument and weak abactinal skeleton of minufa, but like- 

 wise have very few pedicellariae. 



I do not know whether these two lots represent varieties of one 

 species or two distinct species. They make any sharp separation of 

 Sporastericis from Anasterms well-nigh impossible. 



ANASTERIAS PEDICELLARIS (Koehler) 



Sporasterias pedicellaris Koehlee, Swed. Ant. Exp., vol. 1, No. 1, 1923, p. 18, pi. 



5, figs. 1-6 ; pi. 6, figs. 1-5, 7-10. 

 Sporasterias antarctica Koehler, 1920, p. 78, pi. 18, fig. 4. 

 ? Anasterias perrieri Perkier, Mission sci. Cap Horn, 1891, p. 7 (not Studer, 



1885). I have seen a specimen at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. 

 Anasterias pedicellaris Fisher, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. 76, part 3, 1930, p. 225. 



This species is fully described and figured by Koehler. He notes 

 that in some specimens the spines and characteristic pedicellariae 

 may be very slightly developed, or are even lacking. He writes also 

 that the external appearance, in respect to the more or less soft con- 

 sistency of the abactinal wall, resembles that of Lysastenas. 



Under this nominal species I have tentatively classified several 

 specimens, mostly in a bad state of preservation, which were collected 

 at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. The abactinal spinelets are 

 fairly numerous, and scattered among them are numerous crossed 

 pedicellariae. In contrast to the condition in tnmuta, a few crossed 

 pedicellariae here and there accompany the conspicuous lanceolate 

 pedicellariae of the superomarginai and inferomarginal plates (R, 40 

 mm., r, 12 mm.). 



Koehler's material was taken at Tierra del Fuego, 36 meters, and 

 the Falkland Islands, 7 to 10 meters. Certain specimens collected 

 at low tide. Sparrow Cove, East Falkland, are probably the same as 

 my minuta, since '* les piquants et les pedicellaires sont tres peu 

 developpes et ils font meme completement defaut sur certains 

 exemplaires." 



It is likely that pedicellaris and ininuta are two " manifestations " 

 of a single species. 



