ASTEROIDEA OF NORTH PACIFIC AND ADJACENT WATERS— FISHER 125 



regular series. The first two or three carinals are spiniferous; beyond these only the 

 alternate plates. Color in formalin when received, pale yellowish pink (Scripps 

 Institution). Another young specimen (R 31 mm.) recently placed in formalin was 

 colored as follows: Skin of actinal surface raw sienna, the sides richer, and back and 

 sides marbled with brown madder, the wreaths of pedicellariae lighter, yellowish raw 

 sienna, the pedicellariae whitish; spines pinkish or reddish with pale yellow tips; 

 tip of ray rich reddish cadmium yellow (cadmium plus burnt sienna); tube-feet pale 

 ocher with transparent disks. 



The youngest specimen examined is from Patos Island, Gulf of California; 

 R 9 and 10 mm. There is a series of dorsolateral spines, well spaced, on the distal 

 half of ray, nearly as long as the superomarginals. On the distal 0.4 of ray the 

 adambulacrals are monacanthid. The crossed pedicellariae, rather few in number, 

 form wreaths around the dorsal and superomarginal spines, and a few are found on 

 the outer side of the base of the outer inferomarginal spine. 



Orihasterias dawsoni Verrill (pi. 55, figs. 2, 2d, 5, 5a; pi. 57, figs. 2, 2a, 4). — The 

 type was very kindly forwarded by the Ottawa Museum. It bears two labels, both 

 indicating that the specimen was taken at Vancouver Island, 1875, by Richardson, 

 Canadian Geological Survey. Verrill (1914, p. 176) gives Queen Charlotte Islands as 

 the type-locality, evidently an error. 



The specimen is in poor condition, having been dried without previous preserva- 

 tion and is about ready to fall to pieces. It is very evidently not congeneric with the 

 type of Orihasterias, and I can find no satisfactory characters by which to separate 

 it from Astrometis sertulifera. About 12 actinal spines are present, reaching a third 

 the length of ray, while the plates themselves continue to seven or eight tenths the 

 length of the ray. The dorsolateral spines continue practically to the end of the ray, 

 but owing to the condition of the specimen it is impossible to be certain if they are 

 proximally in more than one series. The superomarginals are alternately spiniferous 

 and have large beaded or pebbled areas. The ventral lobes of the distal plates — 

 say from the twentieth on — are very broad and rounded (pi. 57, fig. 2a). I thought 

 this might be used as a character by which to separate dawsoni from sertulifera. 

 However, the variation in dawsoni is not known. There is considerable variation in 

 typical sertulifera; and while specimens tend to have narrower ventral lobes, some 

 have broad lobes on the distal plates. (PI. 57, fig. 3a.) The proportions of the ven- 

 tral lobe of the proximal plates is also variable. The longer of the two apical mouth 

 spines is rather flatter in dawsoni than is usual in the southern specimens, but here 

 again there is variation. 



No specimen of u dawsoni" other than the typo has been taken. It would indeed 

 be strange to find in deep northern waters a representative of a species from intertidal 

 and shallow waters of southern California and Lower California. If "dawsoni" is 

 hiding in deep water off Vancouver Island, it certainly constitutes an anomaly of 

 distribution. I think it is not entirely unlikely that Califomian specimens of Astro- 

 metis sertulifera may have survived on the bottom of lumber schooners and have 

 found their way northward. Only more specimens from the region can settle the 

 status of dawsoni, which seems to have few claims to recognition as a distinct rare 

 64406—28 9 



