(I BULLETIN 76, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Typt locality. Okhotsk Sea, 50 03' \.. 144° 08' E., 110 meters, mud. 



Distribution. Okhotsk Sen. Gulf of Tartary. 



S/ „ , , ( fchotsk Sea, 50° 03' \., 144° 08' E., 110 meters, mud. 



Remarks. I am indebted to Dr. \. Djakonov for the specimen upon which the 

 illustrations and the above a< counl are based. 



This species, like orientalis, lives in the very cold environment of the Okhotsk 

 g ea |, appears in belong in the hyperborea-groenlandica section of Leptasterias, from 

 which, as well as fro... all other 5-rayed north Pacific Leptasterias, the species can be 

 distinguished by the regular dorsolateral longiseries of spinelets. In a general way 

 fish* i < resembles L. tenera forma compta of New England waters. In L. tenera, which 



small species, (he spaced spinules arc heavily wreathed but the carinals are 

 similar to oilier ahactinals, and no large bivalved pediccllariae are present in my 

 specimens. The crossed pedicellariae resemble those of fiskeri in details, but are 

 only 0.2 to 0.22 mm. in length abactinally. 



/.. leptalea Verrill was based upon a very small specimen from southern Alaska. 

 Since the type is lust and no other specimen is known, it is doubtful if the species 

 can be surely identified, as no details are Bgured. The crossed pedicellariae are said 

 n, he of "unusually large size, with strongly curved blades, numerous in groups 

 around the dorsal spines and on th papular areas." This does not apply to fisheri. 



LEPTASTERIAS LEPTALEA Verrill 

 /., p , , p alea \ > miii.i,, Shallow-water Starfishes, 1914, p. 119, pi. 18, fig. 3. 



The 5-rayed type of this species, the ventral side of which is figured by Verrill 

 (pi. 18, fig. 3), is said to lie from Sitka. The only locality mentioned in the 

 description is Virgin Bay, Prince William Sound, Alaska. The type can not now be 

 located at the Peabody Museum, Yale University. A small 6-rayed specimen from 

 Sitka (No. A. 275) collected by W. R. Coe, 1S99, and labeled leptalea is obviously 

 not the type, nor this specie-,, there being six rays, two or three supermarginal 

 spines, and small crossed pedicellariae. It is possible that the label may have been 

 attached to the wrong specimen, which resembles L. asteira. 



Verrill's small figure of the ventral surface lacks pertinent detail. Such figures 

 of Leptasterias without a dorsal view are of little value. It resembles L. groenlandica, 

 some specimens of arctica, and some of Tiylodes, and even Tiyperborea and oriental'**. 

 From the standpoint of locality hylodes is the most likely, if the description fitted. 

 The dorsal spinelets of hylodes can hardly be described as "not numerous, conical, 

 relatively stout:" nor are the crossed pedicellariae "of unusually large size with 

 strongly curved blades:" nor do they ever occur on the papular areas. The straight 

 pedicellariae are not "small, <<\ ate. " 



The following is the original description: 



te 5-rayed species. Radii, 2.5 nun. ami 15 mm.; ratio, 1 : 6. Rays 



I al ossicles relatively strong, thickened, especially those in the median 



Dorsal spi oi conical, relativelj stout, usually standing singly, one to an 



le, ami forming three or live rather irregular rows. Ocular plate relatively large, bearing a 



Minor pi e of unusually large si e and with strongly curved 



blades are usually numerous in groups around the dorsal spines ami on the papular areas. Adam- 



bula< mostly two to a plate, or alternately om and two distally, v< ry slender, terete, often 



slightly clavate. Lower marginal spines, which are much larger, acute, conical, like the dorsals, 



