SHALLOW-WATER STARFISHES 357 



Genus Calvasterias Perrier. 

 Type, C. asterinoides Perrier; Sladen, 1889, p. 589. 

 Calvasterias PERSIES, op. cit., 1875, p. 348. 



This is another genus in which the skeleton, and also, largely, the 

 spines, are covered with a thick, soft dermis, entirely concealing the 

 plates. 



It is monacanthid. An imperfect spiniferous interactinal row of 

 plates is present ; usually there are two rows of inf eromarginal spines 

 and a single row of superomarginals. Position of genital pores 

 unknown ; nor is it known whether the young are incubated. 



The dorsal skeleton in the type consists of wide, lobed or substellate, 

 imbricated plates, overlapping in both directions by their lobes, as in 

 Stichaster. Descriptions and figures of other species do not show the 

 character of the plates, and some may not be congeneric, if the plates 

 prove to be abortive or rudimentary. 



In the type the dorsal spines are few, short, capitate, nearly con- 

 cealed by the dermis and an abundance of papulae of similar size. 



The type was supposed to have been from Torres Strait, but Sladen 

 records the species from the Falkland Islands. 



CALVASTERIAS (?) STOLIDOTA Sladen. 

 C. stolidota SLADEN, 1889, p. 590, pi. ci, figs. 3, 4; pi. an, figs, n, 12. 



This has longer rays than the type, with more evident, scattered 

 dorsal spines, which are short, rough, capitate. The skeleton was not 

 described, and so it may not be a true Calvasterias. Leipoldt united it 

 to Sporasterias rugispina, with doubt. 



This is from both coasts of Patagonia and the Falkland Islands, 

 in 5 to 10 fathoms. 



MEYENASTER GELATINOSUS (Meyen, 1834, as Asterias). 



Asterias rustica GRAY, 1840, p. 179; Synopsis, p. i, 1866. 

 Asterias gelatinosa CLARK, op. cit., 1910, p. 337, pi. vi, fig. 2. 

 Meyenaster gelatinosus VERBILL, Amer. Journ. Science, xxxv, May, 1913, 

 p. 348. See also Introduction, above, p. 54, for generic characters. 



This is a large, and a very characteristic species on the west coast 

 of Chile, from Iquique southward. It grows to the diameter of 

 20 inches or more. It is monacanthid and usually six-rayed, yet five- 

 rayed and seven-rayed specimens are frequently found. 



The only other species of .the genus, known to me, is supposed to be 

 from the Society Islands (No. 1427, Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool.). That 



