ASTEROIDEA OF NORTH PACIFIC AND ADJACENT WATERS— FISHER 27 



mens. Taken also at station 4537, 7 miles northeast of Point Pinos, Calif., 1,062 to 

 861 fathoms, hard sand, mud; bottom temperature, 38.5° F.; one specimen. 



Distribution.— British Columbia to central California, 861 to 1,588 fathoms, 

 mud and sand; temperature range, 35.3 to 38.5° F. 



Remarks— I have examined a ray of Freyella propinqua Ludwig and a ray of 

 F. pacifica Ludwig. These two, as well as F. elegans Verrill, have the same type of 

 adambulacral armature, namely, one subambulacral spine and one aboral furrow 

 spinelet, and in this respect agree with F. microplax. But microplax differs from 

 these three species in having much more numerous and smaller plates on the genital 

 region of the ray, and as compared with elegans much more numerous and smaller 

 disk plates. The spinelets of the disk and rays of microplax are much smaller— very 

 small, in fact— and as the plates are diminutive, so the groups of spinelets are also 

 smaller, much closer together, and correspondingly very much more numerous. 



FREYELLA INSIGNIS Ludwig 



Plate 3, Figure 2; Plate 4, Figure 2, 2a; Plate 8, Figure 1 

 Freyella insignis Ludwig, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 32, 1905, p. 272, pi. 32, figs. 188, 189. 

 Diagnosis.— Ravs 11 (to 13 in typical form); in California specimen, R 104 mm., 

 r 5.5 mm., R - 19 r. (Ludwig gives R = 20 r and R = 17.6 r.) Disk thickly covered 

 with fairly close-set sharp spinelets, two, three, or even more to a plate; genital 

 region of ray about 3 r in length, covered with relatively large, closely fitted, roundish 

 or irre-ularly elliptical plates bearing 7 to 20 spinelets (only three or four in the Cali- 

 fornia "example) which form transversely oriented groups; lateral spines slender, 

 opposite alternate adambulacral plates, beginning with the fifth; adambulacral arma- 

 ture- one or sometimes two aboral furrow spinelets (regularly two in California 

 variety) and one subambulacral spine, those of the genital region modified, with a 

 more or less spatulate tip ending in two to four points or prongs; mouth plates with 

 two spinelets at mouth of furrow and one adjacent to first adambulacral plate; suboral, 

 one, rather short and pointed; gonads two to each ray, each with a single aperture on 

 the side of ray 1 r from base. 



Description.— Disk firmly plated, with two, three, or sometimes even more, 

 relatively conspicuous, sharp, slender spinelets to each plate. The spinelets are 

 fairly close-set and often bear a relatively large pedicellana. 



Genital region of ray about 3 r in length, only slightly swollen, and covered with 

 relatively large closely fitting spiniferous plates, the spinelets forming spaced groups, 

 transversely oriented, of three or four spinelets to a plate. The spinelets are rela- 

 tively large, being 0.4 to 0.5 mm. long. They tend to form interrupted lines crosswise 

 to the ray, and at the distal end of the genital region the plates are more or less 

 independent, forming one or two poorly defined, independent arches. On the sides 

 of the ray just above the adambulacral plates the integument is bare except for rudi- 

 mentary arches reaching alternate adambulacral plates. This is probably due to 

 the immaturity of the specimen. Beyond the genital region the ray is crossed by a 

 broad band of pedicellariae opposite each adambulacral plate. 



First lateral spine attached to upper border of the fifth adambulacral plate. 

 The first spine is short, as usually the case; the second equals 2.5 adambulacral plates 

 in length; the third equals 3; the fifth equals 3.5; at about the middle of ray the spine 



