134 VERRILL 



spine at first. There are no actinal spines in the smaller of these 

 (i8 mm. to 20 mm. in diameter), but one row appears in those 

 about 23 mm. to 25 mm. in diameter, and in these the upper mar- 

 ginal plates usually begin to have two or three spines. 



This species has been very much confused and misunderstood by 

 writers, owing to the brief and poor description given by Brandt. 

 He described many of his North Pacific invertebrates merely from 

 colored drawings made by or for Mertens, and probably he had no 

 specimens in most of such cases. The starfishes were apparently 

 among those thus described from drawings only, for several were 

 named from their colors and in some cases very little else was given. 

 In some cases Brandt stated that the specimens were lost. His 

 .4. ochracea and A. epichlora were from Sitka, and we may naturally 

 conclude that they would be species commonly found there. 



About A. ochracea there can be no doubt, for it is very common 

 on the rocks at Sitka and its color is usually characteristic, as well 

 as the coarse spinulation. But Dr. Coe informs me that the most 

 abundant species between tides at Sitka, and the adjacent coasts, is 

 the one now under discussion, and he also states that it is usually 

 dull green or olive-green on the dorsal surface when living, which 

 would at once explain the name epichlora. Dr. Coe states that it 

 has the same habits and nearly the same dull-green color as 

 L. littoralis (St.), which he had seen in abundance at Eastport, 

 Maine, and that this Alaskan species occurs by thousands in the 

 same way at Sitka, on the rocks at low tides. It also carries its eggs 

 and young in clusters over the mouth, like L. littoralis. These facts 

 would, of themselves, make it almost certain that Brandt's species 

 was this common green species, especially as no other distinctly 

 green species is known at that locality. 



Moreover, Brandt's description fits this species in other respects 

 better than it does any other. The principal point of diflference is 

 that he stated that it was five-rayed, while much the larger propor- 

 tion of our Sitka specimens are six-rayed. But we also have many 

 five-rayed specimens of exactly the same character from Sitka. As 

 there is no evidence that Brandt's description or Mertens's figure 

 were based on more than a single specimen, this diflference is of veiy 

 little importance. Among the young carried by six-rayed mothers, 

 are found more or less five-rayed ones. 



Brandt's description was essentially as follows : 



" The disk is of moderate size (about one inch in diameter), sub- 

 depressed. The five arms are conical, subdepressed, unequal in 



