82 



Patiria. 



The upper side, between the angles of the arms, is covered with 

 small, roundish groups of spines. 



This genus may be divided into three sections : 



1 . Body pentagonal ; the dorsal ossicules lunate, narrotv ; the edge ofthe 



arms acute. 



j/ Patiria coccinea, Gray. 



Asteriscus coccineus, Mūller 8^ Trosch. 43. 



The roundish group of spines between the lunate ossicules are very 

 abundant. 



2. Body five-rayed ; rays thick, rounded; dorsal ossicules lunate, sub- 



triangular ; arms convex above and rounded on the sides. 



Patiria granifera. 



.'' Asterias granifera, Lam. n. 24 .-' ; var. a petits grains, Oudart, t. 



Brown. Back rather convex. The arms broad, rounded at the 

 end, nearly as long as the diameter of the disc, rounded above, flat 

 beneath; the lunate dorsal ossicules covered -vvith short, crowded 

 spines, and with only a few small tufts of spines between them, the 

 ossicules of the orai surface each with a transverse line of 8ix or eight 

 spines. 



Inhab. ? 



Variety, the arms more slender, about one-third longer than the 

 diameter of the disc. 



Inhab. ? Brit. Mus. 



The variety may be a distinct species, but the specimen is not in 

 sufficiently good preservation to determine this point \vith accuracy. 



3. The body five-rayed, rays thick, rounded ; the dorsal ossicules, espe- 



cially those at the end ofthe arms, broad, rounded, the back covered 

 with two or three beaked pedicellaria nearly hiding the tubercles. 



Patiria ocellifera. 



Asterias ocellifera, Lam. 45 ; Oudart, t. . fig. . 



Body five-rayed ; arms thick, rounded, as long as the diameter of 

 the disc, bluntish at the end ; the dorsal ossicules broad, oblong or 

 roundish, reddish, covered with short, crowded spines ; the orai sur- 

 face -vvith transverse rovps of three to five mobile spines. 



Inhab. } 



This species much more nearly resembles Oudart's figure than the 

 species I have described under the name of Nectria oculifera. 



Patiria obtusa. 



Brown, depressed, five- to six-rayed ; rays depressed, rounded at 

 the end; dorsal surface v?ith lunate ossicules crowded with short 

 spines ; orai surface vvith circular groups of crowded spines in the 

 middle of each ossicule. 



Inhab. Panama. Sandy mud, six to ten fathoms. 



