REPORT ON THE ASTEROIDEA. old 
are covered with a thick fleshy tissue, which is slightly turned over the tips of those 
spinelets that fall beyond the summit of the interbrachial arc, and extends up to within a 
short distance of the extremity of the ray, gradually diminishing in breadth as it pro- 
ceeds outwards. The margin of this supplementary fringe is thickened, and furnished 
with a powerful muscular band. 
Colour in alcohol, a rather livid pink, the ambulacral furrows and tube-feet being a 
yellowish white. 
Locality.—Station 158. South of Australia, 1099 miles south-west of Cape Otway. 
March 7, 1874. Lat. 50° 1’ 0” S, long. 123° 4’ 0” E. Depth 1800 fathoms. Globi- 
gerina ooze. Bottom temperature 33°'5 Fahr.; surface temperature 45°:0 Fahr. 
Remarks.—This exceedingly handsome species is characterised by the definitely raised 
areas of the paxillee-crowns. A similar structure occurs in Hymenaster sacculatus, but is 
not so strikingly developed. The two species may be readily distinguished by the structure 
of the supradorsal membrane, by the disposition of the spiracula, by the armature of the 
adambulacral plates, and by the general form. The colour also is different. 
12. Hymenaster crucifer, Sladen (Pl. LXXXIX. figs. 1 and 2; Pl. XCI. figs. 1-3). 
Hymenaster crucifer, Sladen, 1882, Journ. Linn. Soc. Lond, (Zool.), vol. xvi. p, 227. 
Marginal contour subpentagonal. Interbrachial arcs very slightly indented, the minor 
radius being in the proportion of 66°6 per cent. R=51 mm.; 7=34mm. Rays tapering 
to a-fine extremity, which is somewhat attenuated and produced. Marginal fringe com- 
paratively insignificant as seen from above, and narrowing rapidly towards the extremity 
of the rays. Form depressed, more convex on the actinal than on the abactinal surface. 
The supradorsal membrane is rather thin; the muscular fibres are numerous, thick, and 
radiate regularly from the tips of the spinelets. The paxille are numerous, though 
somewhat widely spaced, and bear a crown of four or sometimes five spinelets, which 
usually elevate the membrane into slightly raised Maltese cross-shaped areas. The spinelets 
are sharply prominent, and the fibres for a short distance round the tip are merged together 
and form a homogeneous “cap ;” the caps of each of the spinelets of a crown coalesce, and 
thus produce the subcruciform or rhomboid elevation above mentioned. ‘The paxille are 
well spaced, and are arranged in longitudinal lines along the rays. No spiracula occur on 
the raised areas, but in the intermediate spaces they are very numerous and closely placed, 
the intervals between the thick radiating bands being very narrow, and occupied by a 
great number of small spiracula placed close together in lines, four to eight or even more 
in each, and separated from one another by only the finest dissepiment. The numerous 
spiracula and the isolated unpunctured cruciform areas give a striking character to the 
abactinal surface. The oscular orifice is large, the valves all webbed together, and the 
spinelets quite hidden in membrane, the whole of which is uniformly punctured with a 
