NORTH PACIFIC OPHIURANS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM CLARK. 283 



52° 14' 30" N.; long. 174° 13' E., 482 fathoms, fine gray sand, peb- 

 bles, bottom temperature 38.6°, 4 specimens. Bathvmetrical range, 

 59 to 482 fatlioms. Temperature range, 40.8° to 38.6°. Twenty-two 

 specimens. 



Type.— Cat. No. 25716, U.S.N.M., from station 3319. 



It is most interesting to find tliis genus, liitherto known only from 

 the western Atlantic, in the Pacific Ocean off Alaska. The Alaskan 

 species is very nearly allied to lymani from the Atlantic, but judging 

 from the material available to me it differs distinctly in the flat, 

 convex disk grains; in lymani man}' of the disk grains are conical and 

 some are almost spine-like, especially on the radial shields and disk 

 margin. The teeth and tooth jjapillse of Idevis are more slender and 

 spiniform than they are in lymani, and the skin which covers the 

 whole animal is thicker and more full of granules in Ixvis. None of 

 these differences is very radical and more abundant material mav show 

 that the two forms are not really specifically distinct. The specimens 

 of lse.vi,9 before me range from 8 to 20 mm. in disk diameter. 



OPHIOCREAS CEDIPUS. 



Ophioereas cedipus Lyman, lUill. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. (), 187!), }>. 65. 



Localities. — Albatross station 4979, ofl' eastern Japan, hit. 33° 53' 

 N.; long. 137° 42' E., 943 fathoms, ])rown mud, fine sand, foraminif era, 

 bottom temperature 36.4°, 1 specimen; station 5079, ofl" Omai Saki 

 light, Japan, lat. 34° 15' N.; long. 138° E., 475 to 505 fathoms, 

 pebbles, bottom temperature 39.1°, 2 specimens. 



The specimen from station 4979 is small, about 9 mm. across the 

 disk, dirty wliitish, and has low, blunt oral papillae. The specimens 

 from station 5079 are 5 and 20 mm., respectively, across tlie disk, and 

 are deep purplish brown ; the smaller has a few oral pai)illa^ in the 

 mouth angles, but the larger has none. None of the specimens lias 

 any unusual swelling at ])ase of arms, but aside from that fact the Ini-ge 

 one answers very well to layman's descri})tion and figures. As the 

 swelling of the arm bases is probably associated with the full develop- 

 ment of the reproductiA'e organs, it does not seem to me that its 

 presence or absence can be considered a specific character. It is 

 probably best, therefore, to consider the large specimen before me an 

 example of (jediims. In spite of its oral ])a])ilhv the little sjieinnien 

 from the same station seems to be undoubtedly identical, and there- 

 fore I can not regard the specimen from station 4979, in which oral 

 papillae are well developed, as a diff(M-ent species, even though its 

 color also is quite different. But it is possible, nevertheless, that more 

 abundant material would show tliis latter specimen to be specifically 

 distinct. 



