REPORT ON THE ASTEROIDEA. 319 
1. Nectria ocellifera (Lamarck), Gray (Pl. LY. figs. 1-7). 
Asterias ocellifera, Lamarck, 1816, Hist. nat. anim. s. vert., t. ii. p. 553. 
Nectria oculifera, Gray, 1840, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi. p. 287. 
Goniodiscus ocelliferus, Miiller and Troschel, 1842, System der Asteriden, p. 60. 
Chetaster munitus, Mobius, 1859, Neue Seesterne des Hamburger und Kieler Museums, p. 3, 
Taf. 1. figs. 1 and 2 (Abhandl. a. d. Gebiete Naturw. hrsg. v. d. naturwiss. Verein, Hamburg, 
Ba. iv. Abth. 2, 1860). 
Nectria ocellifera, Gray, 1866, Synop. Spec. Starf. Brit. Mus., p. 15. 
Locality.—Station 162. Off East Moncceur Island, Bass Strait. April 2,1874. Lat. 
39° 10’ 30” S., long. 146° 37’ 0” E. Depth 38 to 40 fathoms. Sand and shells. Surface 
temperature 63°°2 Fahr. 
Several examples of this starfish were collected at the above station, and are chiefly 
interesting on account of showing different stages of growth. Only one example is large 
and mature ; and this specimen agrees in the form of the ray and the character of the paxille 
with the description given by Perrier’ of his Nectria ocellata, whilst the adambulacral 
armature is that of Nectria ocellifera. Nectria ocellata is the form which Gray called 
Nectria ocellifera and referred to Lamarck’s species Asterias ocellifera ; Perrier, however, 
considers that Gray’s form is distinct from Lamarck’s. The small examples, on the other 
hand, have the short rays of Nectria ocellifera, but have the adambulacral armature of 
Nectria ocellata. Under these circumstances I have refrained from referring the adult 
specimen to Perrier’s Nectria ocellata, and I feel in doubt as to whether that species is 
really distinct from Nectria ocellifera, Lamarck, sp., or is only a growth-stage. 
The largest of the Challenger examples has elongate, conically cylindrical, tapering 
rays, the major radius being about three and a half times greater than the minor radius, 
R=64 mm, vr=18 mm. In the armature of the adambulacral plates there are two rows 
of elongate papilliform granules, the furrow series having two or occasionally three, and 
the outer row two granules. The large prominent paxillee of the abactinal surface taper 
slightly from the base to the tabulum and are not hour-glass-shaped ; the granules in the 
series that surrounds the margin of the tabulum are distinctly smaller than those on the 
centre of the tabulum, but they do not in any sense become modified into flattened scales 
as described by Perrier in Nectria ocellifera, Lamarck. The madreporiform body is dis- 
tinctly visible, and the paxillee in its neighbourhood are not very high. It will thus be seen 
that in the length of the ray and in the character of the paxille this example conforms to 
the description of Nectria ocellata, whilst in the character of the adambulacral armature it 
resembles that of Nectria ocellifera. 
I may mention that I have seen a specimen in the Berlin Museum which also seemed 
to combine the characters of the two forms. These circumstances are not without signifi- 
cance in connection with what follows on the features of the young stages of the form 
collected by the Challenger. 
 Révis. Stell. Mus., p. 188 (Archives de Zool. expér., 1876, t. v. p. 4). 
