REPORT ON THE ASTEROIDEA. 199 
The paxillee of the abactinal area are small and compact, and composed of six to nine 
spinelets, of which one is central. The spinelets, which are short and robust, are directed 
upward, and their radiation apart is very slight. No definite order ig maintained in the 
arrangement of the paxille. The papul are small, and dark brown or almost black in 
colour ; and a broad space occurs along the median line of the ray in which none are 
present. In the centre of the disk there is a large and conspicuous conical prominence, 
upon and in the neighbourhood of which the“paxille are greatly reduced in size. 
The supero-marginal plates, which are twenty-two in number from the median inter- 
radial line to the extremity, are higher than broad along the inner half of the ray, but 
broader than high on the outer portion. Each plate, excepting two or three in the inter- 
brachial are and a few at the extremity, bears two small, conical, sharply pointed spines. 
The inner series are placed close to the inner edge of the plates, and are continuous from 
the arm-angle until near the tip, decreasing in size as they proceed outward, until they 
disappear altogether. The outer series are slightly larger, and are placed at the extreme 
edge of the plates on the curvature where the abactinal and lateral superficies unite ; they 
are continuous throughout the ray, excepting the innermost plate on each side the median 
interradial line. 
The infero-marginal plates are higher than broad, and flush with the superior series. 
Each plate bears a single lateral spine, which is short, taperin g continuously from base to 
tip, sharply pointed and slightly compressed. On the inner half of the ray, two similar 
and slightly smaller spines are situated on the median line of the plate—one, which is the 
smallest, not far from the inner edge of the plate adjoining the adambulacral plates, and 
the other about midway between this spine and the lateral spine, the three forming a lineal 
series transverse in relation to the direction of the ray. On the outer portion of the ray 
the inner spine is aborted or indistinguishable from the squamules of the plate. When 
the side or lateral wall of the ray is placed in direct view, the above-mentioned spines of 
the infero-marginal plates are all visible, and they, together with the spinelets of the 
supero-marginal plates, appear to form a continuous vertical series. The lateral spine is 
very little, if at all, longer than the outer spine on the supero-marginal plate, and all these 
spines stand at an angle to the superficies of the plate, and are directed upward and out- 
ward. Very short, widely spaced, papilliform’squamules are distributed over the surface 
of the infero-marginal plates, and the granulation of the supero-marginal series partakes 
of the same character, and is indistinguishable at the junction of the plates. 
The armature of the adambulacral plates consists of short, robust, subpapilliform 
spinelets, which do-not taper, and stand more or less perpen dicular to the surface of the 
plate. The furrow series consists of four or five spines, and their base line forms a slight 
angle projecting into the furrow; the middle spinelets are a shade larger and more robust 
than the others. The actinal surface of the plate behind the furrow series is occupied by 
spinelets which are little more than elongate papille ; they’ are small, stumpy, covered 
