244 BULLETIN 82, UNITBD STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In a specimen with 14 arms there are 4 IIBr 4 (3 + 4) series. On all of the arms 

 following the IIBr axillaries the first syzygy is between brachials 3+4 and the first 

 pinnule is on the second brachial. 



Localities. — Endeavour; southwest of Rame Head, Gippsland, Victoria (lat. 

 38° 07' S., long. 149° 10' E.); 128-155 meters; sand; September 10, 1914 (24). PI. 

 21, figs. 52-57rpl. 22, fig. 58; pl. 23, fig. 63. 



Endeavour; Bass Strait, east of Babel Island; 109-128 meters, and 91-146 meters 

 [H. L. Clark, 1916]. 



Endeavour; Bass Strait, northeast of Babel Island; 183-311 meters [H. L. Clark, 

 1916]. 



Endeavour; Bass Strait, 20 miles east of Babel Island; 119 meters [H. L. Clark, 

 1916]. 



Endeavour; Bass Strait, east of Flinders Island; 128-183 meters [H. L. Clark, 

 1916] (2, M. C. Z., 711). 



Endeavour; Bass Strait, eastern slope; 128-219 meters [H. L. Clark, 1916] 

 (2, M. C. Z., 722). 



Endeavour; east "of Maria Island, Tasmania; 142 meters [H. L. Clark, 1916] 

 (2, M. C. Z., 723). 



Geographical range. — Southeastern Australia and Bass Strait. 



Bathymetrical range.— From 119 (?91) to 183 (?311) meters. • 



History. — This species was first described by Dr. H. L. Clark in 1916 from 

 specimens collected by the Australian Fisheries Investigations steamer Endeavour in 

 Bass Strait, between Australia and Tasmania. 



From Doctor Clark's description I supposed that he had confused 2 species, 

 one of Comissia and another of Comanthus, and I thought I recognized in the speci- 

 mens with more than 10 arms a form from Tasmania with which I was already 

 famihar. 



So in 1918 I listed the 10-armed specimens described by Doctor Clark under the 

 name of Comissia spanoschistum and referred those with more than 10 arms to my 

 new Comanthus tasmaniae — a procedure which should have been reversed, since the 

 bolotype of Comanthus spanoschistum is a multibrachiate individual. 



Recently I received from Dr. Th. Mortensen a fine series of 24 specimens from 

 the Gippsland coast collected by the Endeavour on a cruise during which Doctor 

 Mortensen was on board. A study of these has brought out several wholly unexpected 

 and extraordinary features connected with this species, and has shown that Doctor 

 Clark was correct in assuming that all his specimens represented a single form. 



Remarks. — The systematic position of this species is most puzzling, for it com- 

 bines in a most singular way features characteristic of the genera Comissia, Comatella, 

 Capillaster, and Comanthus. 



Genus COMISSIA A. H. Clark 



Actinomelra (part) Bell, Report Zool. Coll. H. M. S. Alert, 1884, p. 510, and following authors. 



Comaster (part) A. H. Clark, Smiths. Miscell. Coll., vol. 52, pt. 2, 1908, p. 202. 



Comissia A. H. Clark, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 36, 1909, p. 501 (diagnosis; genotype Comis- 

 sia liitkem'}; Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 22, 1909, p. 175 (referred to the 

 Capillasterinae) ; Vidensk. Medd. fra den naturhist. Forening i K0benhavn, 1909, p. 151 

 (comparison with Cominia) ; p. 193 (probably occurs at Singapore, though not yet discovered 

 there); Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 40, 1911, p. 10 (represented in the West Indies by Leplone- 



