128 BULLETIN 76, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



I am indebted to Prof. Wesley R. Coe for the photograph of the type. 

 Type. — In the Yale Museum. 



Type-locality— -"Off San Francisco, probably in rather shallow water (Prof. 

 W. E. Sitter)." 



Genus COSCINASTERIAS Verrill 



Plate 42, Figures 1-3; Plate 43, Figures 3, 4 



Coscinasterias Verrill, Trans. Connecticut Acad., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1867, p. 248. Type C. 

 muricata Verrill (rel. Asterias calamaria Gray). — Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., 

 1894, p. 10S— Fisher, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 17, 1906, p. 574; ser. 9, vol. 12, 

 1923, p. 256. 



Stolasterias Sladen, Challenger Asteroidea, 1880, p. 583. Type Asterias tenuispina La- 

 marck. — Fisher, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 12, 1923, p. 256 (subgenus). 



Lytaster Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., 1894, p. 98. L. inaequalis Perrier=A. 

 tenuispina Lamarck, juv. See Fisher, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 18, 1926, p. 197. 



Polyasterias Perrier, Exped. Trav. et Talism., 1S94, p. 108. Type, A. tenuispina Lamarck. 



Diagnosis.- — Fissiparous Coscinasteriinae, with 7 to 12 rays, having monacan- 

 thid adambulacral plates, pedicellariae on only the outer of the two inferomarginal 

 spines, one series of spiniferous actinal plates (sometimes abortive). Skin covering 

 skeleton not extraordinarily thick and tough as in Meyenaster; crossed pedicellariae 

 with an enlarged tooth on outer side of terminal lip; large straight pedicellariae with 

 denticulate jaws usually present. 



Subgenus Coscinasterias ss. 



Plate 42, Figure 1; Plate 43, Figure 3 



Diagnosis. — Alternate carinal plates oblong-elliptical, without lateral lobes; 

 mouth-angle very constricted, with five or six contiguous pairs of adambulacral 

 plates behind the mouth plates. 



Southern Hemisphere: Indian Ocean and Pacific (Madagascar to Chile). 



The species of this group require a complete revision based upon specimens and 

 not upon scattered notes and inferences. It is customary to unite VerrilPs muricata 

 of New Zealand with Gray's calamaria of Mauritius and neighboring Indian Ocean, 

 whereas they may be distinct. A Chilean species, 0. gemmifera (Perrier, 1869), prob- 

 ably the same as Asterias echinata Gray, 1840, is distinct from 0. muricata, of which 

 the type still exists in the Yale Museum. 



I am indebted to Dr. H. L. Clark for the loan of numerous spechnens from New 

 Zealand, New South Wales, and Victoria. Doctor Clark and I have long been aware 

 of the existence of two species of Coscinasterias, ss, among the sea stars of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology. 



Clark 60 reports C. gemmifera from Tasmania and calamaria from South Aus- 

 tralia. It may well be that the ranges of two species overlap in Australian waters, 

 but their correct names must remain at present uncertain. True gemmifera is dis- 

 tinct from calamaria, however. 



I have seen the type of gemmifera (in alcohol) at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 

 (Eydoux et Souleyet, 1832). Rays 11. Along inside of furrow are small slender 

 straight pedicellariae, but no large ones elsewhere as in calamaria. In the middle 

 third of ray there are a few spiniferous actinal plates occurring sporadically but not 



•° Report on Sea-Lilies, etc., otthe " Endeavour," 1916, pp. 72, 74. 



