ASTEROIDEA OF NORTH PACIFIC AND ADJACENT WATERS FISIIER. 339 



diatc (station 3331). Armature of four or three furrow spines, but specimens from 

 station 3331 with three, two, and finally one as in fwciUigtr, and )lio series are 

 slightly spaceil also, as noted above. The subambulueral spines a<;ree very nearly 

 in number witli the furrow, to which they are subecpial in U-ngth, but arc consider- 

 ably longer and thicker in a large (and not in a sniaii) specimen from station 3331. 

 The armature differs from that of furciUiger mainly in having stouter spines, 

 narrower spaces between consecutive series, and iieavier membrane on the spines. 



Mouth plates differ from those of furcilligtr in having slightly- stouter furrow 

 spmes and more numerous actinal or suborai spines, there being in the type three 

 to six about as long as the furrow spines. In furcUligi r (typical) only one or two 

 spines are present, althougli a northern example, whidi is not typical in some other 

 respects, has three suborai spines. 



Actinal intermediate ])lates about as numerous as in furciUiger. In a specimen 

 from station 3330 the pa.xillje along tiie ray are very inconspicuous, but in anotiier 

 example also hirge, they are fairly large, fuUy as large Jia in typical furciUiger. 

 A specimen station 3331 lacks actinal intermediate paxillse on the rays, although 

 here and there far along ray a small one may be seen. 



Type.— C&i. No. 27789, U.S.X.M. 



Type-locality. — Albatross station 3350, olf Point Arena, northern California, 

 75 fathoms, fine sand, mud; two specimens. 



Distribution. — Southern Bering Sea to northern California in 75 to 350 fathoms, 

 typicallj' in less than 200, intergrading evidently in deeper wutcr with the following 

 form. Probably westward to Spitzbergen. 



Specimens examined. — Fourteen, all from the Natioind Museum collection, as 

 follows : 



Station 3330, north of Unalaska, 351 fathoms, black sand, mud, four; station 

 3331, same locality, 350 fathoms, mud, four; station 3339, eiust of Shumagin Islands, 

 138 fathoms, mud, gravel, two; station 3350, type-locality, two; lio locality, two. 



Remarlcs. — This form may ultimately be found to intergrade with L.furcifir 

 of the Arctic Ocean and of the North Atlantic. Vexator differs from typical /urci/rr 

 in having a more open abactinal skeleton with consequently more widely spaced 

 paxilla>, higher paxillaj with longer spinelets, much smaller actinal pa.xilla^ (about 

 as in furcilUyer) and longer adambulacral s])ines. If equal sized specimens of the 

 two forms are compared, L. furcifer is seen to have witle rounded interbrachial 

 arcs which merge gradually into the ray. Vexator has a smaller disk, never rounded 

 interbrachial arcs, but acute angles, the rays being sometimes swollen at base so 

 that the marginal and adjacent abactinal paxillse of two rays interlock. L. fur- 

 cifer reminds one of a five-rayed Solastcr, whereas L. vexator suggests a five-rayed 

 " Crossaster." 



Grieg" has furnished notes on the variation of L. furcifer from wliich it would 

 appear that a form resembling vexator occurs off Spitzbergen .* This can not 



a See Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the Fram, 1898-1902, Echinodermata, 

 1907, 8 (pi. 1, fip". 3 to 5; pi. 3, fig. 1 ). Erhintxipimen von dom norwegi.-when Kinhcreidampfor .Uichael 

 Sars in den Jahren liMXt to 1903 gesammelt, III, Asteroidea, Bergens Muaeums Aarbog, 1906, No. 13, 

 p. 69, text fig. 9, and pi. 2, figs. 6-9. 



i Text fig. 9, Aeteroidea, Michael Sari ExpeditioD. 



