STARFISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE SEAS. 95 



characteristic of Persephonaster. Anal aperture very small. Polian 

 vesicles 5. Stomach spacious, filled with gastropods. Hepatic coeca 

 slender, extending about half the length of ray. Superambulacral 

 plates slender and rather long; lower end of ambulacral ossicles, with 

 a broad flange distall}^, overlying part of a triangular adoral flange. 

 Along the ambulacral ridge betw^een each pair of plates is a sac- 

 like depression resembling an opening into a cavity beneath, but 

 apparently there is no connection with the underlying spaces. Blind 

 tubes lead out from the coelom between the marginal plates, as in 

 Persephonaster^ at the point of junction of 4 plates. 



Type.— Cat. No. 30515, U.S.N.M. 



Type-locality. — Station 5520, 4.5 miles southwest of Point Tagolo 

 Light, north coast of Mindanao, 102 fathoms, bottom temperature 

 61.3° F.; 1 specimen. 



Distri?)utwn.—^etyveen Samar and Masbate, south to the north 

 coast of Mindanao. 102 to 135 fathoms, green mud and sand. 



Specimens examined. — In addition to the type, 2 from station 5392, 

 between Samar and Masbate, 135 fathoms, green mud, sand. 



BemorlxS. — This species differs from G . ludwigi in having the rays 

 longer, relatively narrower at the base, but tapering only very slightl}^ 

 until near the tip, so that they are of a different form. In ludwigi 

 the rays taper evenly from the base to a pointed extremity, and R 

 equals 4 r. or less in small specimens. In C. astropectinides R equals 

 5 to 5.5 r. C. astropectinides differs further in having shorter, 

 stouter, superomarginal spines, on the marginal angle of the ray 

 only, not across the dorsal facet of the plate, as in ludwigi; in having 

 the abactinal plates of the papular areas strongly 4-lobed ; in having 

 proximally fewer actinal inferomarginal spines in addition to the 

 lateral comb (3 to 5 in ludwigi) ; the actinal intermediate plates of 

 ludioigi are less symmetrical, there being often in large specimens 

 1 out of place behind the mouth plates, simulating an odd actinal 

 intermediate plate; the furrow spines are stouter and broader at 

 the tip in astropectinides. Apparently the subambulacral pedicel- 

 lariae are variable in occurrence in ludwigi. In the 3 specimens 

 which I have examined they are abundant, but in a figure sent by 

 Dr. S. Goto they are not shown except on the first plate. 



Genus CTENOPHORASTER Fisher. 



Ctenoplwraster Fisher, 190G, p. 1014. Type, C. haivaiiensis Fisher. 



CTENOPHORASTER DIPLOCTENIUS Fisher. 



Plate 12, fig. 4 ; plate 16, figs. 2, 2a-c ; plate 17, fig. 2 ; plate 18, fig. 1. 

 Ctenophoraster diploctenius Fisher, 1913a, p. 609. 



Diagnosis. — Rays 5, R=105 mm., r=15 mm., R=7 r; breadth 

 of ray at base IS or 19 mm. Very closely resembling C. haioaiiensi^s 



