150 Transaftioiis. 



Colour. — In life this species is deep orange. Mr. Oliver remarks. " Its 

 colour renders it very conspicuous, and it does not trj^ to conceal itself. 

 This seems to be a good case of ' warning coloration.' the starfish evidently 

 being distastefiil to fish." &c. I do not know whether he made any experi- 

 ments to support this suggestion, which on the usual view of coloration 

 iseems plausible. When dried the colour turns to a dirty pale orange- 

 brown : in alcoh()l to cliocolate-brown. 



Locality. — Meyer Island (20/5/1908). It has already been recorded 

 and sufficiently described from Kaoul (Sunday) Island by Farcjuhar (1897). 

 who did not give it a specific name. 



Remarks. — I have doubts as to whether this is really an Ophidiaster, for 

 according to Ludwig's analysis of the skeleton (1897) of the Mediterranean 

 species, 0. ophidianus, there should be 2 rows of ventro-lateral plates. I 

 ■do not know whether a similar careful analysis has been made for other 

 species, but Ludwig lays stress on this point, for he separates, under Gray's 

 name Hacelia, H. attenuata on account of the presence here of 3 ventro- 

 laterals. Possibly, therefore, the Kermadec species deserves a new generic 

 title. 



The arrangement of the arm-plates in 7 regular longitudinal rows is a 

 characteristic of Ophidaster which is shared by Hacelia, whereas in Linckia 

 the dorsal arm-plates are not regularly disposed, though in a recent paper 

 Koehler (1910) describes L. duhiosa, in which the dorsal surface has the 

 appearance of Ophidiaster, while the arrangement of the adambulacral 

 spines in contiguous rows is held to be a feature of Linckia. 



I have been rather puzzled by the " entrenched pedicellariae," for in 

 Bronn's "' Thierreichs," as also in Delage's " Zoologie Concrete," the diag- 

 nosis of Ophidiaster includes the " absence of pedicellariae." Nevertheless. 

 Sladen describes two species (0. tuberifer and 0. heliostichus) in which 

 these are present, and Ludwig adds several others with " pedicellaires en 

 saliere."" This diagnosis is thus misleading, for it is one of the apparent 

 distinctions between this genus and Linckia. 



I am not sufficioitly familiar with the literature to do more than express 

 my doubts as to the validity of referring this Kermadec species to the genus 

 Ophidiaster. 1 am informed that a specimen was sent to Professor Bell. 

 of the British Museum, for identification, and it was stated by him that 

 he did not know the species, and that it was probably new to science : 

 hence the detailed account above given. At the same time, I have not 

 seen Perrier's account of 0. (/ermani. from Lord Howe Island and New 

 Caledonia, and it may turn out to belong to this species, or to one of 

 Lutk(Mi"s from Tonga. 



Asterias rodolphi Perrier. 



Perrier. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), vol. 17, p. 34 (187(i). 



Farquhar (1897) has already given a full description of this species, 

 which was collected at Raoul (Sunday) Island, where the type was found 

 so far back as 1854. 



The present collection was made at Sunday Island " under stones at 

 low-water mark." It consists of seven specimens in nlcohol. They all 

 have 7 arms. 



Measurements were made on three individuals, with the following result : 

 R 95. r 18 : R 80. r 14 : R 48. r 8 : hence the ratio R : r is between 

 5 and G : 1. 



