STARFISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE SEAS. 129 



as the actinal. This outer end is tunlid and bears a short oblique 

 comb of 3, distally often 2, slender, tapering, sharp, appressed spines, 

 the middle, or the 2 lower the longest, or sometimes the lowest. At 

 the first third of the ray the longest spine equals 2 or 2-1 plates, and 

 the comb often is largely abactinal in position, the spines resting on 

 or against the superomarginals. The first 3 or 4 plates may have 4 

 spines in the comb, with an additional actinal spinule, and 1 or 2 

 spinules out of place in front of the comb. Plates covered with 

 spaced, rather slender, flattened, appressed spinelets, sometimes 

 broader and more scalelike. The first few plates usually have 1 

 or 2 fasciculate pedicellariae near the inner edge consisting of about 

 C stubb}' spinelets and another at the outer end, near the base of the 

 uppermost lateral spine, this upper pedicellaria persisting to the 

 outer part of the ray. 



Actinal interradial areas small; intermediate plates extending to 

 twenty-first inferomarginal or about two-thirds length of ray. They 

 are very small and well spaced beyond the first fourth of the ray. 

 Plates slightly convex and armed with spaced groups of rather slen- 

 der papilliform spinelets, which, on a variable number of plates in 

 the interradial areas form fasciculate or pectinate pedicellariae. The 

 pedicellarian spinelets are coarser and shorter than the others. 



Proximal adambulacral plates wider than long, then as wide as 

 long, and beyond middle of ray increasingly longer than wide. 

 Sutures very broad. Furrow spines 6 or 7, slender, compressed, 

 pointed, and rather long. When there are 6, the spines are nearly 

 equal, the median being a trifle the longest. When there are 7, either 

 or both lateral members, especially at base of ray, are conspicuously 

 shorter. Subambulacral spines 8 to 12, slender, pointed, much 

 shorter than furrow spines and arranged in about 2 irregular series, 

 or on the first 2 or 3 plates in 2 or 3 irregular transverse series, or 

 without any regularity. A variable number of plates bear 1 or 2 

 fasciculate pedicellariae with 4 to 6 jaws. These jaws are slightly 

 more pointed subambulacral spines. Rarely all the subambulacral 

 spinelets form a sort of pectinate pedicellaria. In the type most of 

 the plates except on the attenuate outer part of the mj have pedi- 

 cellariae, but a specimen from station 5215 is poorly provided. 



Mouth plates of the usual Persejyhonaster type. At the inner 

 angle of the combined plates are 2 broad, flattened, blunt, petaloid 

 spines. Between each of these and the peristome is an oblique verti- 

 cal double row (or really a very acutely angular series, apex toward 

 peristome) of about 10 pointed spinelets resembling a pectinate 

 pedicellaria. The marginal series, on the furrow, at level of inner 

 tooth, consists of 3 to 5 rather conspicuous slender lanceolate spines 

 appressed against the smaller suboral spines, of which there are 



