472 Prof. F. J. Bell on Asterias rubens and the 



Mspida, and have only once seen a specimen which I felt 

 inclined to regard as such. 



Among the many interesting specimens of Asterida which 

 the British Museum owes to Mr. John Murray's dredgings 

 on the west coast of Scotland there is one remarkable form 

 which justifies the acceptation of Mr. Hodge's variety attenu- 

 ata, and I am inclined to think the abnormal ' Knight 

 Errant ' specimen referred to by Mr. Sladen on p. 573 of his 

 * Challenger ' Report might be placed in the same category. 



Starfishes grow to such considerable size that there does 

 not appear to be any justification for the " var. giganteaP 



With regard to A. violacea Mr. Hodge says : — 



" A very common species with us, so far as I know. On 

 the Durham coast it is only found between tide-marks, whilst 

 the former species {A. rubens) is seldom if ever taken under 

 similar conditions. It is readily distinguished from the pre- 

 ceding by the bluntness of its spines, esjDecially on the dorsal 

 aspect, where they are mostly rounded at their summits, or in 

 some cases one would almost say 'truncate.' In A. rubens 

 the spines are (I believe) invariably pointed. Other distinct 

 characters are apparent on examining specimens of each side 

 by side ; the general appearance of each is quite distinct, as 

 is their habitat. Here (Seaham) I have never to my know- 

 ledge taken this species at sea, neither have I obtained A. 

 rubens living within tide-marks." 



If you take a few selected specimens you may show the 

 justice of Mr. Hodge's view, but if you take such a series as 

 he himself got together for the Newcastle Museum you can 

 show that his rules are not always true and that there are 

 intermediate stages to be found. 



A word of warning may be uttered as to the word " viola- 

 cea'/^ some violet-coloured specimens from Kenmare Hiver 

 Avhich Prof. Haddon was kind enough to send me to assist 

 in this investigation are all forms (and a wonderful variety 

 too) of A. rubens. Of specimens with a violet colour I shall 

 have something more to say soon. Here it need only be 

 remarked that Messrs. Koren and Danielssen * are not doing 

 justice to the observations of English naturalists at any rate 

 when they say of A. rubens that "it is met with in two 

 varieties of colour, from which there has at different times 

 and by different writers been formed two species, viz. Asterias 

 rubens and A. violacea.''^ 



The next autliors whom we need cite are Messrs. Leslie 

 and Herdman, who in 1881 published f a very useful list 



* ' Norske Nordhavs Exp., Asteroidea,' p. 24. 



t Proc. Hoy. Phys. Soc. yi. (ISbO-Sl), pp. 90 aud 91. 



