434 Deep-sea Trawling off the S.W. Coast of [reland : 
plate is elongated, and the more so when there are seven than 
when there are eight plates, while the terminal inferomarginal 
plate is triangular. The abactinal plates of the disk are uni- 
formly granulated and are irregular in shape, with a not very 
well-marked tendency to be hexagonal in form. The ultimate, 
and sometimes also the penultimate, superomarginal of either 
side of each arm is not separated from its fellow by any of 
the abactinal plates. 
The granules of the plates of the actinal are somewhat 
coarser than those of the abactinal surface; on each side of 
the middle line of the arm there are two rows of plates, one of 
which extends to the end of the arm and the other halfway. 
The adambulacral spines are short and square at their tip, so 
that they differ hardly at all from the granules of the adjacent 
plates; they are arranged in a single row, and there appear 
to be ordinarily five on each adambulacral plate. The groove 
is exceedingly narrow and the tube-feet are not to be seen in 
the single specimen collected. ‘There are no signs of any 
pedicellariz, and there are no spines. ‘The madreporite is 
undistinguishable. The appearance of the specimen in alcohol 
is somewhat leathery, owing to the comparatively thick mem- 
brane with which it is invested. 
Dredged at 1000 fath. 
I have particularly compared this new species with the 
description of Stephanaster Bourgeti*, Perrier, which Mr, 
Sladen has lately transferred to the genus Astrogonitwm and 
which was dredged off St. Vincent and the Cape-Verde Islands 
at 189-317 fath.; but the difference in the proportion of the 
greater and less rays, the larger number and different form of 
the marginal plates, and the absence of the remarkable pedi- 
cellariz in our species are quite sufficient to show that there 
is no close relationship between these two forms. 
Nymphaster protentus. 
Jymphaster protentus, Sladen, Chall. Rep. Ast. p. 303. 
Five specimens, one quadriradiate, from 315 fath. 
I was at first inclined to regard these as examples of a new 
species ; but a careful examination shows that they vary a 
good deal among themselves, and a more careful study of Mr. 
Sladen’s description leads me to the conclusion that it is a 
specimen and not a species which he has described. As the 
‘Challenger’ collection of Asteroids has not yet been depo- 
sited in its future home, the British Museum, I have had to 
content myself with the description and figures. 
* Ann. Sci. Nat. xix. (1885), art. 8, p. 31. 
