ASTEROIDEA OF NORTH PACIFIC AND ADJACENT WATERS FISHER. 337 



Specimens examined. — Twenty-four, from the following localities: 



Specimens of Lophaster /urcilliger examined. 



Locality. 



Depth. 



Nature of bottom. 



In-u 



3075. 

 3338. 



4237 



4«7 



4425 



No label. 



00 Queen Charlotte Island, B. C 



Ott Sea Lion Rock, Washington 



South of Unga Island, Alaskan 



Peninsula. 

 Vicinity of Yes Bay, Behra Canal, 



Alaska. 

 Vicinity of Santa Catallna Island, 



California. 

 Between Santa Barbara and San 



Nicholas Islands, California. 



334-600 

 1,084-1,100 



green mud 



do 



green mud, sand , 



green mud 



rocks, shells, fine gray sand . . 



green mud, sand, globlgerlna. 



a. B. Nat. Mua. 

 Do. 

 Do. 



AUxUtou. lOOQ. 



Atbalrou, 1904. 



Do. 



Remarks. — Tliis species, altlu)u<:h very well marked in ffceni depths, seems 

 gradually to cliange in shallower water to L. furciUiger vexator. However, an exam- 

 ple referable to furciUiger rather than to vexator was taken in 102 fathoms off south- 

 east .AJaska. The specimens of vexator from 350 fatlioms north of Unala.ska are not 

 typical, but are nearer vexator than to the present form. The specimens of furciUiger 

 from stations 2S60 and 3075 are not t}-pical, but mry slightly in the direction of 

 vexator. It is probable that there is a slight change northward in addition to the 

 change caused, it would seem, by shallow water. Specimens of vexator from shallow 

 water show the characteristics of the race more prominently than do tho,se from 

 deeper than 200 fathoms. 



Venturing somewhat ujxin the speculative, one may suggest that vexator varies 

 with latitude as well as with depth, and that ranging into deep water it gradually 

 becomes the form known as furciUiger, which assumes its extreme characters only 

 at great depths (as the type-locality). If northern furciUiger is derived from 

 northern vexator, and southern /urriTZi^rr from the southern vexator, specimens of 

 furciUiger from the two extremes would naturally sh<nv some ilifTerences even if 

 the remoteness geogra[)hically did not also exert an influence, which it probably 

 does. It is likely that furciUiger pushes farther south at great depths than its 

 possible originator does at shallower. Also, once established /»rri^i<;(T may return 

 to shallower water where bottom and temperature are favorable; at least specimens 

 nearer the type than to any other form are found in less than 200 fathoms. It 

 hardly seems possible that these are individual variants of vexator. 



L. vexator is much nearer to furcifer than is furciUiger. This seems ver>- sug- 

 gestive. If intergratlation occurs between furcifer and vexator an<l vexator inter- 

 grades with furciUiger, as seems demonstrable, then logically, Sarkaster ralidus 

 (scarcely if at all specifically separable fmm furciUiger) would be connected by a 

 complete series with L. furcifer, and would naturally become, along with /urriWi^rr, 

 a subspecies of furcifer. The intergradation of furcifer and vexator is, however, yet 

 to 1)0 demonstrated, but there is no doubt that Sarkaater is only an extreme of 

 Lophaster. 



ru444°—n\\\\. TIV— 11 22 



