52 



Crossastbr papposus (O. Fabricius). " Common Sun Star." 



Asterias papposa, O. Fabricius (1780). 



Solaster papposus, Forbes (1839). 



Crossaster papposus, MuUer and Troschel (1840). 



The Common Sun Star, with its twelve to fifteen rays, is widely distrib- 

 uted on both sides of the North Atlantic. On the North American side of 

 that ocean it is known to range from Massachusetts Bay to Greenland, and 

 in depth from low-water mark to 179 fathoms, usually, if not always, on a 

 hard bottom. Stimpson found it, but not very abundantly, at Grand 

 Manan ; Ganong on the reefs around Pendleton's Island, in Passamaquoddy 

 Bay, and at L'Etang Harbour, Charlotte Co., N.B. ; and Verrill says that 

 it has been found on all the fishing grounds off Nova Scotia. In the Gulf 

 and mouth of the River St. Lawrence it has been collected at or near low- 

 water mark, or dredged, at many localities, by Sir J. W. Dawson, 

 Bell, Packard, and the writer ; and in the Strait of Belle Isle and 

 Atlantic coast of Labrador by Packard and the Stearns expedition. 



Sir J. W. Dawson says that it has been found fossil in the LeJa clay at 

 Montreal, and in the Pleistocene at Greens Creek, near Ottawa. 



LoPHASTER FURCiFER (Duben and Koren). 



Solaster furcifer, Duben and Koren (1844). 

 Lophaster furcifcr, Verrill (1878). 



" Bathymetrical range, 234 to 640 fathoms" (150 fathoms, 1883, George's 

 Bank). " Rare ; chiefly northern ; it occurs in moderate depths in the Gulf 

 of Maine and off the Nova Scotia coast " (Verrill, 1895). 



Family Pterasteridcu. 



Pteraster pulvillus, M. Sars. 



" Bay of Fundy, 20 fathoms ; " and " banks off Nova Scotia and New- 

 foundland " (Verrill, 1895). 



Pteraster militaris (Miiller). 



Asterias militaris, Mitller (1776). 



Pteraster militaris, Muller and Troschel (1842). 



First discovered on the American side of the Atlantic by Dr. Stimpson, 

 who dredged three specimens in the Hake Bay, Grand Manan Island, in 35 

 fathoms, shelly ground, in 1852. Verrill, in 1895, says that the species is 

 common in the Bay of Fundy, in 10 to 50 fathoms. In the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence specimens of it were di-edged by the writer in 1871, on the north 

 shore, off Sawhill Point, in 69 fathoms; in 1872, eight miles south-east of 

 Bonaventure Island, in 56 fathoms ; and in 1873, on the Orphan Bank. 



