VerriU.] 348 



tween, with very numerous papulae, and bearing, at their intersec- 

 tions and elsewhere, short, rather slender si)ines, which are often 

 acute. The median rows of the rays are quite distinct, formed by 

 longer and larger spines, supported by more prominent, somewhat im- 

 bricated plates. The dorsal spines bear close wreaths of minute mi- 

 nor pedicellarise, which also form dense clusters on the outward sides 

 of the lateral and ventral spines. The major pedicellariae are elon- 

 gated-oval, slender, acutely pointed, and very numerous over the 

 whole surface between the spines. On the interambulacral spines 

 they are numerous, and several occupy the angles between the rays 

 beneath. The madreporic plate is broad, rather flat, and finer in tex- 

 ture than in the preceding species. The ambulacral pores are rela- 

 tively smaller, more numerous and more crowded than in A. Forbesii. 

 The color in life is light purple or yellow, the sexes difiering and 

 varying with the season. 



This species attains a very large size, specimens fifteen inches in 

 diameter and upward being not rare in the Bay of Fundy ; a speci- 

 men of ordinary size is 4 inches from the centre to the end of a ray; 

 .8 inch to edge of disk ; width of rays at base, 1.2 inch. 



This species is found from Cape Cod and South Shoals, Mass., to 

 Labrador, and from ordinary low-water mark to twelve fathoms. On 

 the coast of Maine and northward, it is by far the most common 

 species. At Eastport and Grand Menan it is very abundant among 

 rocks at low water, and of large size. Lewiston, Me., in drift clay, 

 one hundred feet above the Androscoggin River, (Coll. this Society). 



Under the name of Asterias spinosa, Say included a southern 

 species (A. arenicola Stimp.) and specimens from Saco, Me., undoubt- 

 edly belonging to this species, but his identification with the species 

 of Linck was entirely erroneous, that being really Say's A. senilis 

 (Echinaster spinosus M. and Tr.). Pennant's A. spinosa appears to 

 be A. glacialis Linn. The next distinctive name, so far as I am 

 aware, is A . vulgaris Stimpson, MS., first published by Packard in 

 1863, but given by Stimpson some time before. Whether the manu- 

 script name, Asteracanthion pallidus Agassiz, applies to this species, I 

 am unable to determine, no description having yet appeared. In the 

 Essex Institute are specimens of this species labelled "J., ruhens" by 

 Mr. A. Agassiz, and one from Labrador, which is apparently perfectly 

 identical with it, labeled by him "^. Fabric il Ag. MS." 



This species differs widely from A. rubens of Europe, of which I 

 have had a specimen for comparison, preserved in alcohol, and sent 

 by Dr. Liitken to Dr. A. S. Packard. A. rubens has stouter and 

 more evenly rounded rays, which are covered above with more nu- 

 merous, smaller, and sharj^er spines. The texture is still more loose 

 and pliable. The dorsal median row of spines is much less distinct ; 



