ANNOTATED LIST. 33 
tered and inconspicuous, while in others they are numerous and more or less elevated. 
The upper surface is generally mottled with green or gray of various shades, and often 
with blue or yellow markings. The specimen figured (pl. 5, fig. 1) is only about half-grown 
and is somewhat lighter colored than adults, but on the whole the figure gives a very good 
idea of a typical Culcita noveguinee. The tubercles, which in this figure are grayish-blue, 
are in adults often bright yellow or they may be bright blue. The oral surface may be 
either light green, deep greenish, or slate-color. No two specimens were exactly alike, but 
it is equally true that no individual was seen which was not evidently novaguinee. 
Specimens under 80 mm. in diameter are not found in the open, but live sheltered 
under slabs of rock. The smallest seen was about 65 mm. in diameter. As is now well 
known, Culcitas pass through very interesting growth stages, three of which were described 
by Gray as Hosia spinulosa, Goniaster sebe, and Randasia granulata, but it is by no means 
sure to which species of Culcita these names should be assigned, and it will be well to let 
them fall into complete disuse under the general synonymy of the genus. Some years 
ago I stated (1908, p. 281) that ‘‘Goniodiscus sebe Miiller and Troschel is the young of 
Culcita noveguinee,” but this statement needs modification, for while G. sebe is beyond 
doubt the young form of a Culcita it is by no means certain to which species it should be 
referred, since the type material was from the Red Sea as well as from the Moluccas and 
New Guinea. Therefore the suggestion of Goto (1914) that Goniaster sebe is the earliest 
post-Linnean name for Culcita noveguinee also requires a similar modification, which 
removes any necessity for changes in the nomenclature of this now well-known species. 
ASTEROPID£E. 
Asterope carinifera. 
Asterias carinifera Lamarck. 1816. Anim. s. Vert., 2, p. 556. 
Asterope carinifera Miiller and Troschel. 1840. Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, p. 104. 
(Plate 5, Figure 2.) 
This is one of the commonest and perhaps the most widely distributed of Indo-Pacific 
sea-stars. It ranges from Mozambique, Zanzibar, and the Red Sea on the west, to the 
Hawaiian and Society Islands on the east, and from Queensland and New Caledonia on 
the south to Okinawa, Riu Kiu Islands, on the north. It is also reported from the Galapa- 
gos Islands, Panama, and La Paz, Lower California, but these records are all old and need 
verification. In September and October 1913, I found Asterope common at Mer, and in 
December I took many specimens at Hilo, Hawaii. On September 6, 1913, I found an 
adult specimen at Green Island, about 20 miles off the coast near Cairns, North Queens- 
land, and this seems to be the southernmost record on the Australian coast. It is note- 
worthy that we did not find Asterope near Thursday Island, nor has it been taken in Torres 
Strait by any of the earlier collectors. Neither is it known from the Arafura Sea, the north 
coast of Australia, nor from the Aru or the Kei Islands. But it is known from Timor, 
the north coast of New Guinea, the Loyalty Islands, and New Caledonia. 
Asterope lives, both when young and adult, on the lower side of slabs and rock frag- 
ments in shallow water on the reef-flats or along shore. The coloration is very variegated, 
shades of drab and olive-green predominating, but brown, white, black, bluish, yellowish, 
and reddish can usually be detected. Such a coloration closely resembles the surface on 
which it lives and the background against which it is seen, and whether one considers 
such a resemblance adaptive and protective or not, it is nevertheless very real and the 
sea-star may be easily overlooked even by an experienced collector. The colors are not 
usually well preserved after death, for no matter what killing method or agent is used the 
green shades disappear and often become more or less distinctly red. Some of the colors 
tend to fade, while others become deepened, so that preserved specimens rarely appear 
very much as they do in life. 
