282 NEW STARFISHES AND OPHIUEANS—VERRILL. vol.xvii. 



respond with and are opposite to the adambulacral plates and have a 

 large lateral spine at their origin on each side; the smaller ribs are 

 irregularly interpolated between the larger, but have the same kind of 

 plates and spinules, but have no large lateral spines ; close to the base 

 of the ray the plates are often irregularly scattered on the dorsal sur- 

 face and form imperfect rows only on the sides. The number and 

 closeness of the transverse ribs varies on different arms of the same 

 specimen, but in all cases they are more numerous (45 to 60) and closer 

 together than is usual in the genus. A series of round brownish spots, 

 alternating with the larger transverse ribs on each side, apparently 

 indicate the position of the genital pores. 



In contact with the adambulacral plates there is a row of small, 

 alternately unequal, lateral plates, two of them corresponding to each 

 adambulacral plate. Toward the base of the rays these plates are 

 about as broad as long, but distally they become narrower and more 

 oblong and much smaller. On the tumid part of the ray, except close 

 to the base, those lateral plates nearly opposite the middle of the 

 adambulacral plates are elevated, and have a central tubercle, bearing 

 a long, slender, strongly fluted, acute spine similar to the outer ones 

 of the adambulacral plates; toward the extreme basal part of the ray 

 these lateral spines decrease in size, until on the first 4 or 5 seg- 

 ments they are nearly abortive. The long lateral spines continue on 

 the distal part of the ray, but the lateral i)lates which bear them often 

 become consolidated with the adambulacral plates. The alternate 

 lateral plates are flat and bear no spines. 



The adambulacral plates are numerous and short, excavated at the 

 middle of the inner margin. On the middle of the swollen reproductive 

 region each i)late may bear as many as 5 or 6 spines; of these, 2, 

 forming the transverse furrow- series, are very slender and situated 1 

 at either end of the inner margin of the plate extending more than half 

 way across the furrow; another slender spine of similar size often 

 stands above each of these, but one or both of these may be absent, on 

 alternate plates, especially on the more distal part of the ray. On the 

 actinal side, and at about the middle of each plate, there are 2 much 

 larger and longer spines, one external to the other, the outer one being 

 considerably larger and longer than the inner, its length being equal 

 to the breadth of the ray; these two, with the similar lateral ones, form 

 an oblique transverse row. Close to the basal part of the ray, the two 

 outermost of the adambulacral spines become much stouter and are 

 columnar in form ; the tip becomes swollen with a truncate or convex 

 papillose summit. The apical papilla? apparently correspond to the 

 terminations of the lateral flutings. 



The transverse spines within the furrows bear, sometimes singly 

 and some times in clusters, more or less numerous rather large pedicel- 

 larise with very slender, strongly curved jaws. Similar pedicellariae 

 occur between the larger spines on the adambulacral plates. The larger 



