ON A PROBABLE PERIODICAL AMPUTATION 

 OF THE DISK-COVERING BY SOME 

 OPHIURIDS 



D*. C. PH. SLUITER 



at Amsterdam 

 With two tigures 



In a short »Notice of a remarkable Ophiurid from Brazil" 

 Mr. Jeflrey Bell mentions in 1888') an Ophiurid, forwarded 

 to the British Museum. Three examples of this species were col- 

 lected near Pernambuco. The form was in the first place remar- 

 kable for the extraordinary length of the arms, as Bell thought, 

 for while he measured the disk at about 4 mm. the arms were 

 no less than 150 mm. From all three examples however the 

 covering of the disk was lost and this loss had , in a very 

 curious way, affected also the dorsal surfaces of the most proxi- 

 mal arm-joints. From this loss of the covering, it was impossible 

 for him to make out the genus to which this form should be 

 referred. However he thinks it probable that it might be allied 

 to one of the genera Ophionema or Ophionephthys of Lütken. 

 He directs the attention of naturalists, who may be collecting 

 in those regions, to this curious form, in order to observe the 

 animal in life. 



Though I cannot as yet give an exact answer as to the 

 question of the meaning of this loss of the disk-covering, I can 



1) Jeffrey Bell. Notice of a remarkable Ophiurid from Brazil. Ann. and Mag. of 

 Nat. History. 6th Series Vol. I, p. 368. 1888. 



