248 



BULLETIN 75^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



carries tliree or four small, very stout, blunt spines, of which the next 

 to the lowest is longest, but scarcely equals half a joint. Tentacle 

 pores apparently wanting, but tentacle scales well developed, single, 

 thick and blunt or pointed. Color (dried from alcohol), yellowish- 

 brown. 



Locality. — Albatross station 3480, Bering Sea, lat. 52° 6' N.; long. 

 171° 45' W., 283 fathoms, black sand, coral, rocky, 22 specimens. 



2^?/7)g.— Cat. No. 25736, 

 U.S.N.M., from station 

 3480. 



It is a curious coinci- 

 dence that we should 

 have here another case 

 of a new species of OpTii- 

 olehes from the same sta- 

 tion as its nearest rela- 

 tive, the type of 0. pauci- 

 spina having come from 

 station 3480. There does 

 not seem to be any room 

 for doubt, however, that 

 the two species are really 

 distinct, for the differ- 

 ences in disk covering 

 and in arm spines are 

 very marked and appear 

 to be perfectly constant. 

 The foregoing seven 

 species deserve a word of 

 comment, as they form 

 quite a homogeneous 

 group, apparently char- 

 acteristic of the Aleutian 

 Island region and north- 

 ern Japan. The two 

 Japanese species are 

 easily distinguished from 

 the others by the long and 

 narrow radial shields. It is somewhat remarkable that none of the 

 Aleutian species extends southward on the American coast. All of 

 the species have the plates more or less covered by skin, but the 

 extent to which they are obscured varies with the individual. As 

 the drawings and descriptions have been made from dried specimens, 

 little attention has been paid to this character. 



Fig. 120.— Ophiolebes brevispina. o, young specimen, from 

 above, x 8. 6, apult, from above, x 6. c, from be- 

 low, x 6. d, side view of three arm joints of adult 

 near disk, x 6. 



