ANNOTATED LIST. 129 
one seems to have noticed that there is an equally close resemblance to the West Indian 
rviset. Indeed, schenleinii can always be distinguished from erinaceus by the single ten- 
tacle-scale, but that feature it has in common with riise?. Small specimens of riisei can 
be selected which are exceedingly difficult to distinguish from schenleinii. The species are, 
however, unquestionably distinct: schenleinii is uniformly black, with black tentacles, has 
no indication of a color-pattern or of light and dark banding on arms (white bands may be 
present near tips), and lacks the rusty-red tentacles and general reddish oral tinge of riisez; 
the arms average somewhat shorter, and the uppermost arm-spines are shorter and stouter; 
moreover, in schenleinii, young specimens have the disk fully covered with granules at an 
age when rvisez is still bare. 
Relatively little is yet known as to the distribution of schenleinii, as it has not usually 
been distinguished from erinaceus. There are specimens in the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology from Amboina, Fiji, and Samoa. Matsumoto reports it from Formosa and the 
Riu Kiu Islands. I took a specimen at Green Island near Cairns, northern Queensland, 
and the only other Ophiocoma seen there was brevipes, which was very common. At Mer, 
schenleinti was rather common, 18 specimens being taken, but unfortunately it was not 
distinguished from erinaceus until after we left the island. It occurred with that species 
among the living coral, but my field-notes give no hint as to any peculiarities of habits or 
habitat, a fact which makes me very dubious as to its validity as a species. But until the 
question can be looked into on the reefs, it will do no harm to recognize by name this form 
with a single tentacle-scale. The largest example of schenleinii seen is 22 mm. across the 
disk and has arms only 80 mm. long; but another, 20 mm. in disk-diameter, has arms 
100 mm. long. 
Ophiocoma wendtii. 
Miller and Troschel. 1842. Sys. Ast., p. 99.—Koehler. 1907. Bull. Sci., 41, p. 327, pl. xiii, fig. 38. 
The only brittle-star I have seen which can be referred to this peculiar form is from 
Zanzibar and has long been catalogued as Ophiomastix asperula; it is listed as such by me 
in my Catalogue of Recent Ophiurans (1915). It is in poor condition, but comparison 
with indubitable specimens of asperula shows it is not that species, while the disk cover- 
ing is clearly that of an Ophiocoma. The claviform upper arm-spines are conspicuous, 
but since the form of the upper arm-spines is exceedingly variable in most Ophiocomas, 
one hesitates to put much trust in that character alone, especially as it is not well marked 
in the specimen of wendtii Koehler (1905) describes from near Batavia. In the possession 
of these claviform upper arm-spines wendtii is a perplexing link with Ophiomastix, as 
Koehler has suggested. With this character constant, the species would probably be 
always recognizable. Without it, it is hard to see how wendtii is to be distinguished from 
eihiops, wnless the color-pattern shown in Koehler’s figure (1907) and well marked in the 
specimen before me proves a constant feature. Koehler records this puzzling form from 
Fernando Veloso, the Seychelles, near Batavia, New Ireland, and Fiji. 
Ophiocoma brevipes. 
Ophiocoma brevipes Peters. 1851. Monatsb. K. Preus. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, p. 465. 
Ophiocoma brevispinosa E. A. Smith. 1876. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 18, p. 40. 
(Plate 13, Figure 7; Plate 34, Figures 3 and 4.) 
Ophiocomas with a finely granulated disk, the granulation covering the interbrachial 
areas of the oral side, furnish a most perplexing problem, the correct solution of which 
awaits careful study on the reefs. If one is willing to ignore size, color, and character of 
arm-spines, as well as the arm-length and the form of arm-plates and oral shields, one may 
unite all the varied forms under the single name brevipes. But even a little experience on 
the reefs makes one dissatisfied with such an arrangement, and temporarily varietal names 
may be used for the more obvious forms. Further study will probably show that one or 
