SHALLOW- WATER STARFISHES 2$I 



around the margin, and one or two smaller rows on the summit. The 

 spines are decidedly longer than those of the dorsal surface, espe- 

 cially the inferior ones. 



The superomarginal plates and pseudopaxillae are unusually dis- 

 tinct and well developed. They are rounded and bear a regularly 

 stellate group of twenty to thirty slender spinules, longer than those 

 of the dorsal ossicles. 



The interradial areas are very small and narrow, with a few 

 (about twenty) irregular ossicles, which bear round pseudopaxillae, 

 having from five to ten long and slender spinules. None of the inter- 

 actinal plates extend on the rays beyond the margin of the disk. 



The furrow-series of adambulacral spines stand mostly four to a 

 plate, often with a small fifth one proximally ; they are long, slender, 

 divergent, webbed together, the middle ones longest, and about as long 

 as those of the transverse series. The latter are unusually long and 

 slender, subequal ; they usually stand five in a row, but often six. 



The six terminal peroral spines are rather long, but not very 

 stout; they are regularly graded, and there are five or six in each 

 adoral lateral row. 



There are two pairs of epioral spines, the proximal pair being 

 much the longer. 



VARIATIONS. 



A dry, twelve-rayed specimen, a little larger than the last, but 

 having the same proportions, from Queen Charlotte Islands, has 

 somewhat larger dorsal pseudopaxillae, mostly with twelve to fifteen 

 somewhat stronger spinules. The furrow-series of spines stand 

 mostly three to a plate, but sometimes four; they are about as long 

 as, and rather more slender than, the transverse series. 



Another specimen from the same locality has thirteen rays. The 

 radii are 28 mm. and 85 mm. ; ratio, i : 3. The dorsal pseudo- 

 paxillae are smaller, elegantly stellate, with about twenty to twenty- 

 five slender spinules. The madreporic plate has a remarkably fine 

 texture. It is partly concealed by a circle of about ten stellate 

 pseudopaxillae that stand partly within its margin. The furrow- 

 spines proximally often stand four on a plate, though more com- 

 monly three to a plate, the different rays differing in this respect at 

 corresponding places. The transverse rows of pectinate spines 

 contain either four or five spines, proximally. The jaws bear in 

 some cases two pairs of unequal epioral spines ; in others three pairs ; 

 or sometimes two on one half and three on the other in the same 

 individual. The interradial areas are unusually narrow, and have 



