48 BULLETIN 81, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



with bare under face of the disk and it is midoubtedly due to a contraction of the 

 tissues of the animal when it was put into alcohol. 



2. The tentacular scales amount to tv^ and are all very small. 



3. The brachial spmes amount to six; they are pointed and absolutely deprived 

 of a termuial hook. 



4. The radial shields are very much elongated. The mouth shields display 

 a peculiar shape with a convex proximal side and the external oral papilla is spini- 

 form. 



5. Lastly, the upper and under brachial plates are narrow and the latter are 

 longer than wide. 



Any Amphiura which does not possess the above characters can not be called 

 A. jiezuosa. 



When reporting Amphiura flexuosa from Porto Rico, H. L. Clark indicated that 

 the second spine of his example was bent; if we adhere strictly to the above-mentioned 

 characters we may suppose that this was not Ljungman's species. As the specimen 

 comes from a considerable depth (162-171 fathoms), it is, perhaps, an A. palmeri. 



As regai-ds the latter species, the examination which I was able to make of 

 A. flexuosa confirms my opinion that the distinction laid down by Lyman between 

 this species and A. palmeri is perfectly justified. The information given by Lyman 

 about A. palmeri is, unfortunately, too short; however, the shape of the spines 

 following the first ventral which offer a small, bent, terminal hook is of itself sufficient 

 to separate the two species. One may see also by Lyman's drawings that the mouth 

 shields have a different shape. As to the shape of the external oral papilla, it does 

 not seem to me to have been clearly indicated by Lyman; this writer, in fact, states 

 that it can scarcely be called "spiniform," while in his drawing he represents it as 

 being quite clearly widened and squamiform. 



Owing to these facts and the want of a sufficient description, it is very difficult 

 to form an accurate idea of what A. palmeri may be. In 1907 (07 a, p. 279) I 

 referred to this species some Amphiurie which came from the expeditions of the 

 Travailleur and the Talisman, in which the external oral papilla was very thick, 

 conical, and erect, but not squamiform; the under face of the disk was bare, but 

 the brachial spines generally amounted to more than six, and the second and 

 third ones most generally cariicd at their ends two opposite hooks, which, besides, 

 were often unequal, instead of the single one indicated by Lyman. I am 

 inclined to consider these specimens as belonging to another species and to join 

 them with the Amphiura which I describe below under the name of A. kinhergiensis. 

 I shall deal with that question again when studpng this latter species. 



AMPHIURA LATISPENA Ljungman. 



Plate 4, figs. 5-G. 



Amphiura latispina Ljungman (66), p. 320. 

 Amphiura lalisprna Ljungman (71), p. 643. 



This species is known only from a single specimen from the moutti of the 

 La Plata River. It is interesting from several [points of view, and among others, 

 because it is very near A. Tcinbergi, which I beheve I have found again in the 

 collections of the Albatross. Unfortunately, the latter species, which was also 



