NORTH PACIFIC OPHIURANS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM CLARK. 49 



spine is disproportionately small. In one specimen the lowest spine 

 is as long as the joint, at the base of the arm, and is conspicuously 

 bigger than the uppermost. There are neither pits nor depressions 

 between the basal under arm plates, but the surface of those plates 

 is usually rough, as though wrinkled. 



OPHIURA MACULATA. 



Ophioglypha maculata Ludwig, Zool. Jahrb. Syst., vol. 1, 1886, p. 283. 



Localities. — Albatross station 2842, off Aleutian Islands, lat. 54° 

 15' N.; long. 166° 3' W., 72 fathoms, pebbles, bottom temperature 

 41°, 9 specimens; station 4769, Bering Sea, lat. 54° 30' 40" N.; 

 long. 179° 14' E., 237 to 244 fathoms, gray sand, green mud, bottom 

 temperature 38.5°, 1 specimen; station 4778, Bering; Sea, lat. 52° 

 12' N. ; long. 179° 52' E., 33 to 43 fathoms, fine black gravel, 2 speci- 

 mens; station 4779, on Petrel Bank, lat. 52° 11" N.; long. 179° 57' 

 W., 54 to 56 fathoms, broken shells, pebbles, sand, 1 specimen; sta- 

 tion 4782, off Aleutian Islands, lat. 52° 55' N.; long. 173° 27' E., 57 

 to 59 fathoms, rocks and gravel, 2 specimens; station 4784, off 

 Aleutian Islands, lat. 52° 55' 40" N.; long. 173° 26' E., 135 fathoms, 

 coarse pebbles, 9 specimens. Plover Bay, Siberia, 10 to 25 fath- 

 oms, hard, 2 specimens; 10 miles west of Point Franklin, Alaska, 

 13^ fathoms, sand, 154 specimens; Awatska Bay (Kamtchatka) , 

 1 specimen; Constantine Harbor, 6 to 10 fathoms, 8 specimens; Bering 

 Straits, 1 specimen; Indian Point, Bering Straits, 17 fathoms, 15 

 specimens; Kyska Harbor, Aleutian Islands, 16 specimens; Bay of 

 Islands, Aleutian Islands, 10 specimens; Nazan Bay, Atka, Aleutian 

 Islands, 1 specimen; Port Levasheff, Unalaska, Aleutian Islands, 1 

 specimen; Alaska, 8 specimens. Bathymetrical range, 6 to 244 

 fathoms. Two hundred and forty specimens. 



The specimens from Plover Bay answer so well to Ludwig's de- 

 scription of his specimens from the same place that there can be no 

 question as to their identity, but the other specimens show such a 

 wide range of diversity that there are several wdiich, taken by them- 

 selves, would never be regarded as maculata. What Ludwig con- 

 sidered a distinguishing character of the species, the absence of an 

 arm comb, proves to be a very inconstant feature, for while some 

 specimens appear to have none, it is usually more or less evident and is 

 often well developed. The color of those specimens which are not 

 bleached by alcohol is rather variable, the shade of olive-green 

 showing great diversity, as does the amount of cream color, with 

 which the disk and arms are marked. Some specimens have a 

 large blotch of cream color at the center of the disk, but usually 

 there is only a small spot and often tliere are no markings at all. 

 One feature of the coloration is quite constant, and that is the 

 34916°— Bull. 75—11 4 



