A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRINOIDS 383 



Specimens from water with a depth of 10 meters or thereabouts usually have 

 more or less uniformly slender arms which are intermediate in length between those 

 of very shallow imeridionalis) and of deep {valida) water. With increasing depth 

 the arms gradually become stouter basally. 



The type specimen, wliich I have examined, thanks to the courtesy of Drs. W. 

 Weltner and Robert Hartmeyer of the Berlin Museum, is of this intermediate char- 

 acter (var. meridionalis-valida of Hartlaub) with the arms stouter than those of the 

 most slender forms, elongate instead of short like those of littoral examples, but not 

 by any means so robust as in those from deep water. It probably was captured by a 

 fisherman working over a reef in a few meters of water, very likely at Barbados. 



Hartlaub wrote that this specimen shows so much resemblance to var. meridio- 

 nalis that it is a question whether or not it should be considered as a different variety. 



In the first place, its light violet color is striking. In aU the material examined 

 by Hartlaub the only specimens of meridionalis similarly colored were one from 

 Barbados in the I^Jel Museum and one from French Reef. 



Hartlaub beUeved that in this species the different varieties are distinguished by 

 characteristic coloration. Thus the var. meridionalis is a uniform light brown or 

 dirty white, and the var. valida is pure white. 



Hartlaub noted that the size of the type specimen much exceeds that of the 

 numerous specimens of var. meridionalis from French Reef and Cape Frio, though 

 only slightly that of the single specimen from Montserrat. 



In comparison with the size of the arms the centrodorsal is relatively small. 



The cirri are XXIII, short, with the segments similar in form to those of var. 

 meridionalis; the opposing spine is exceptionally feeble. 



The IBr2 (axillaries) are in close lateral contact. 



The arms are somewhat narrowed at the base. The pro.ximal portion of the arms 

 has a very uneven dorsal surface. The brachials in the proximal third of the arms are 

 very short, and they remain short until far out on the arm, while in var. meridionalis 

 the short brachials in the pro.ximal portion of the arms earUer pass over into the 

 elongate form. 



Syzygies occur between brachials 3 + 4, again from between brachials 11 + 12 

 to between brachials 14 + 15, and distally usuallj^ at intervals of 3 or 4 muscular 

 articulations. 



As a result of the maturity of the sexual products the soft parts of the pinnules 

 are strongly developed, while the calcareous ossicles are less conspicuous than usual. 

 The pinnules are not essentially different from those of var. meridionalis. The comb 

 on the oral pinnules is very poorly developed, and does not occur beyond P4. Pi is 

 markedly longer than Pj. 



According to Hartlaub the special features of this specimen are the color, the 

 relatively small size of the centrodorsal and the cirri, the crowding of the IBrz (a.xil- 

 laries), and the shortness of the middle brachials. Hartlaub treated it as distinct 

 from var. meridionalis and var. valida chiefly because in its general appearance it 

 does not agree with either. 



Description of the brachypoda form. — The calyx, cirri and arm bases in their 

 general proportions are as in the preceding form. But the cirri are fewer, with 



