These Starfishes were brought from the island of Ousima (near 

 Loo Choo), by the U. S. North Pacific Expedition. W. Stimpson. 



AsTERiAS Madeirexsis (nov. sp.) 

 Allied to A. glaciaUs. Rays five, stout, flattened above and below, 

 with perpendicular sides; height a little more than one-third the 

 breadth ; disc small. Proportion of smaller to greater radius, 1 : 7. 

 Ambulacral pores narrow. Ambulacra! spines rather stout, flattened, 

 linear ; tips very blunt, a little thickened, and sometimes a little 

 indented on the outer side. They are arranged as usual in this 

 group, one to each interambulacral plate, but are crowded alternately 

 to the right and left, thus appearing to be in two rows. There are a 

 few slender pedicellarias at the inner bases of these spines, very much 

 smaller than those in A. glacialis. Rarely there is a large triangular 

 pedicellaria, twice as long as broad at base, at the outer base of the 

 ambulacral spines. Ventral spines in two rows, very stout, cylindri- 

 cal, with thickened blunt tips, sometimes bevelled oflf; those of the 

 outer row with thick semicircular clusters of minor pedicellarife at 

 their outer bases. Dorsal spines in five rows ; those of the marginal 

 row (about twenty) larger than the others ; those of the median row 

 next in size ; those of the intermediate rows sometimes irregularly 

 scattered. They are stout, cylindric, or subcorneal, about one-eighth 

 inch long, half as thick as they are long, with their tips irregularly 

 sulcated longitudinally. They are occasionally bifurcated at the tip. 

 On the disc the spines are smaller and irregularly scattered, scarcely 

 forming a pentagon. Around the bases of the dorsal spines there are 

 thin wreaths of minor pedicellarise. No major pedicellaria? on the 

 dorsal surface. Papulae in groups. The madreporic plate is pro- 

 tected by a semicircle of five or six spines at the inner side. Diame- 

 ter, nine inches. 



Habitat, Madeira. North Pacific Expedition. Wm. Stimpson. 



ASTERIAS CONFERTA (noV. Sp.) 



Rays five, stout, rounded, and dilated at base ; disc large. Pro- 

 portion of smaller to greater diameter, 1 : 3.5. Ambulacral furrows 

 broad at the base of the ray, where the pores are crowded into six 

 rows. Ambulacral spines in one regular row, slender, compressed ; 

 subcylindric, as long as the ventral spines, somewhat tapering, with 

 bluntly-rounded tips. Ventral spines crowded, very numerous, in six 

 'or seven rows near the base of the ray; short, subcylindric, a little 

 bent outward, and slightly flattened externally, with more or less 

 longitudinal striation near the tip. Beyond the ventral spines there 

 are no regular channels, but the surface is covered with pedicellarije 

 and minute spines. The dorsal spines are numerous, equal in size, 

 but very small — not more than one-twentieth of an inch in length, 



