30U SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF XEW ZEALAND. [Echhwdcrnis. 



furrow at the base. In A the spinelets are usually shorter and somewhat stouter 

 than those of B. 



Bell (1892), in the " Catalogue of British Echinoderms," notes the extreme 

 amount of variation in the spininess of H. sanguinolenta : " The spinulation of the 

 ossicles of the dorsal surface may be so profuse and the spines so long that the whole 

 surface may seem as if covered by them ; on other specimens there is rather tuber- 

 culation than spinulation." &c. This statement is equally true for the present 

 species. 



But when the details of external structure were more exhaustively examined I 

 became less inclined to make this separation, and after a careful study of Sladen's 

 accounts of the various species in the " Challenger " Report, some of which are now 

 by various authors regarded as synonyms, I became less and less able to come to 

 any definite conclusion as to the points which should be regarded as specific. My 

 inability to do so is no doubt due in part to lack of experience in this group ; never- 

 theless, when one finds that skilled specialists, such as Bell, Koehler, Ludwig, and 

 Meissner, take various views as to the validity of the different species described by 

 Sladen and others, I cannot help feeling that it is not altogether my personal equation 

 that is at fault, but that the species of this genus must be highly variable. I con- 

 clude, therefore, that all these individuals collected at the Auckland and Campbell 

 Islands belong to one and the same species ; but what the name of that species is 

 seems a matter of some uncertainty, though in all probability Farquhar's species 

 H. lukinsii is synonymous with Perrier's H. ornata. 



Filhol collected specimens of a small starfish at Campbell Island,* where he 

 found it common, on shore and at a depth of 1 metre : these being submitted to 

 Perrier were pronounced to be CrihreUa ornata. 



Now, since the only specimens from this island since that date that have been 

 recorded and examined — viz., those collected by Dr. Parker — agree with the orange- 

 coloured specimens from Auckland Island, we must, I think, come to the conclusion 

 that the latter is the same as the species collected by Filhol, and therefore it is 

 H. ornata. And if we compare Farquhar's diagnosis of H. lukinsii with Perrier's 

 brief account of H. ornata, and bear in mind the great variability of the specimens 

 collected at Carnley Harbour — some with two rows, some with one row of spinelets 

 on the marginals and adambulacrals ; some with longer and finer, others with shorter 

 and coarser spinelets : that these specimens occur side by side, and are of the same 

 colour, and could only be separated into two sets after careful examination under a 

 lens — I think we are justified in concluding that these two accounts can readily 

 be reconciled, especially in the light of Koehler's recent (1908) re-examination of the 

 specimens in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. 



Localities. — Auckland Island — Carnley Harbour (W. B. B.), Musgrave Harbour 

 (E. Waite) ; Campbell Island (Parker, 1895) ; Snares Island (A. S. Danby, see 

 Farquhar, 1898). 



* Filhol states (p. 572) that he also found this species on Stewart Island and at Cook Strait, where 

 it is said to occur in 25- 30 fathoms of water. I have a specimen from Wellinjiton which differs materially 

 from //. ornata, and I beheve is H. compaeta. By the com'tesy of the Director, I have been able to 

 examine also the specimen in the Dominion Museum, and I agree with Farquhar's identification. I 

 am also of opinion that the scarlet starfish of the Chatham Island belongs to this species. 



