414 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



&\ Actinal intermediate spinelets usually more than 3; near the furrow 5 

 or 6, forming a circle or group (not a tsraight comb) ; furrow spinelets 

 5 or 6; 20 to 25 prominent abMctin.il plates to each fifth of body, 



Asterina coronata fascicularis Fisher* (Migupou; Port Essington?) 

 6 '. Actinal intermediate spinelets 2 or 3, but not often 4. 

 G *. Furrow spinelets 4 or 5 ; actinal intermediate spinelets usually 2 ; promi- 

 nent abactinal plates moderate in number (up to 25 to each fifth of 

 body) and with as many as 25 spinelets to a plate.'' 

 Asterina coronata coronata, von Martens. (Southern Japan, Batjan, 

 Larentuka.) 

 c^ Furrow spinelets 6; actinal intermediate spinelets usually 3 (2 to 4) ; 

 prominent abactinal plates numerous (more than 30 and as many as 

 50 to each fifth of body) and with not more than 15 spinelets to a 

 plate, frequently 10 or less, 



Asterina coronata cristata (Fisher). (Caroline Islands.) 



Prof. A. E. Verrill in his Revision of the Genera of Starfishes 

 of the Subfamily Asterininae (1913, pp. 479, 480) gives primary im- 

 portance to abactinal pedicellariae in distinguishing two of his new 

 generic groups. The presence of pedicellariae abundantly in the 

 Palawan race and their absence in Japanese and Caroline Island 

 specimens show the character to be unreliable for generic dis- 

 tinctions. Of course, I recall that in the case of Astenna Professor 

 Verrill has pointed out that the type, A. gihhosa^ has the gonoducts 

 opening just back of the mouth plates. If this character is confined 

 to the restricted Asterina it will furnish a very important additional 

 feature. 



ASTERINA CORONATA EUERCES Fisher. 



Plate 115, figs. 1, 2 ; plate 116, figs. 1, 2 ; plate 131, figs. 5, 5a. 

 Asterina cristata euerces Fishee 1917&, p. 91. 

 Asterin<i coronata euerces Fisher, 1918, p. 110. 



DiagTwsis. — Very close to typical A. coronata cristata but differing 

 in having abactinal, spiniform pedicellariae, only 12 to 14 swollen 

 abactinal plates to a ray, 8 furrow spines, and 8 or 9 marginal mouth 

 spines. R=20 mm., r=9 mm., R=2.2 r; breadth of ray at base, 10 

 mm. 



1 Fisher. 1918, p. 110. This new race is certainly different as regards the actinal inter- 

 mediate armature. Von Martens states that there are two spinelets in coronata. Of 

 course, specimens may prove to be variable. 



Mr. Alvin Scale, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, who has lived many years in 

 the Philippine Islands, tells me he has sailed past a fairly well-known Migvpou Point; 

 but I have not been able to locate it. with available maps, on Mindanao or on Luzon. Mr. 

 Scale does not recall upon which of the two islands the point is found. It is quite pos- 

 sible that this is the locality from which so many of Gray's types were derived. 



^ So far as true coronata is concerned, the remarljs concerning the number of prominent 

 plates and the number of spinelets on these plates are conjectural. These observations 

 refer to the Japanese form, described and figured by Dr. S. Goto ("A Descriptive Mono- 

 graph of .Japanese Asteroidea," 1914, p. 650, pi. 19, figs 279-281), which may, of course, 

 be quite distinct from typical coronata of the Moluccan region. There are indications 

 that a second race of this species, apparently distinct from cristata, is found in .Japanese 

 waters. In the Museum of Comparative Zoology is a specimen labeled as from Japan 

 with only about 5 prominent abactinal plates to the ray, 6 furrow spines, 5 to 7 subambu- 

 lacral spines (2 enlarged), and 3 to 5 actinal intermediate spines. The spinelets of the 

 ordinary abactinal plates are shorter than in either cristata or euerces. It would seem 

 to fit in near fascicularis. 



