PLUTONASTER. 63 



a-c. Faeroe Channel, 530 fms. ' Knight Errant ' Exp. (St. 7). 



d-f. Faeroe Channel, 555 fins. ' Triton ' Exp. (St. 11). 



g-j. Faeroe Channel {Thomson coll.). John Murray, Esq. 



fa West of Donegal Bay, 1360 fms. ' Porcupine ' Exp. (St. 19). 



2. Plntonaster pareli. 



Astropecten parelii, Dub. <§• Kor. Vet.-Akad. Hdlg. 1844 (1846), 



p. i ; 47, pi. vii. figs. 14-16. 

 Archaster parelii, Sars, Norg. Ech. (1861 ) p. 35 ; Thomson, Depths 



of the Sea, (1873) pp. 122, 181, 456. 

 Plutonaster (Tethyaster) pareli, Sladen, Chall. Rep. Ast. (1889) 



p. 102. 



E. = 2 r (nearly). 



Arms short and broad, disk large ; marginals very large, extend- 

 ing considerably on to both ventral and dorsal surfaces. Ambulacra 

 rather narrow, bordered by a very large number of spines ; these 

 are in five transverse rows, and the inner have again five in each 

 long row ; in the outer the spines are much larger and less numer- 

 ous. The intermediate plates, which extend but a short way beyond 

 the disk, are covered with large flat granules and a few larger flat- 

 tened spines, of much the same size as the largest of the adambu- 

 lacral spines. The inferomarginals and superomarginals at the 

 rounded angles of the disk very long, wider within than without ; 

 further out the plates are wider, and the outer and inner edges are 

 of the same breadth. About twenty-five to thirty plates on either 

 side of each arm ; these plates are sometimes broken into two ; they 

 are in each row covered by a close pavement of polygonal plates, 

 some of which, in the lower series, become prolonged into distinct 

 spines. The dorsal surface is occupied by a regular pavement of 

 quadrate or polygonal plates, each of which may be resolved into a 

 number of fine spines flattened at their free ends. Among them 

 the madreporite, which is situated not far from the centre, may be 

 easily detected. 



Colour said by Duben and Koren to be " intense sanguineus ;" in 

 spirit creamy yellow, the marginals lighter than the rest. 



K. r. 



19 8 



Distribution. Eastern side of North Atlantic north of Great 

 Britain. Very rare in the British seas. 155-160S fms. 



a. North of Ireland, 1360 fms. ' Porcupine ' Exp. 



