76 VERRILL 



M. de Loriol (op. cit., 1896, p. 17, pi. iii, figs, i-i^) has described 

 and figured a specimen, evidently of this species, from Vancouver 

 Island. But his general figure (i) makes the dorsal reticulation 

 much more regular than in the type, and the madreporic plate is put 

 in the center of the disk, which is probably the fault of the artist. 



I have received several other very similar specimens from near 

 Victoria (C. F. Newcombe, coll.) and from Departure Bay (Geo- 

 logical Survey of Canada) . None of these agree perfectly with the 

 type. 



This species is rare in collections and seems to be known only from 

 Puget Sound, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, where it is 

 said to be common. 



It is closely related to P. ochraceus and P. fissipinus by the char- 

 acter of the ventral and adambulacral spines, and by the reticulated 

 dorsal surface. But the dorsal spinulation is even more hke that of 

 E. acanthostoma V. The latter has much longer rays, a much 

 feebler skeleton, two rows of adambulacral spines, and lacks the very 

 large, dentate, dermal pedicellariae. 



PISASTER FISSISPINUS (Stimpson). 



Plate XXXIX, figures i, 2 (type). 



Asterias ^sslspina Stimpson, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., viii, p. 264, 1862. 



Verrill, Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., i, p. 326, 1867, 

 Pisaster Ussispina Verrill, Amer. Journ. Sci., xxviii, p. 63, 1909. 



Dr. Stimpson's original description is as follows: 

 " Five rays, short, and dilated at base ; disc large. Proportion of 

 the diameters, i : 3. Ambulacral pores near base of ray crowded, 

 alternating, indistinctly six or eight rowed. Ambulacral spines in 

 one regular row, as long as the ventrals, and flattened on the outer 

 side. Ventral spines sub-equal, stout, sub-cylindrical, truncated, with 

 fissured tips, and a deep, longitudinal sulcus on the outer side ; they 

 form five regular rows. The marginal dorsal spines are as large as 

 the ventrals, capitate, with striated sides and pinched tips, and form 

 an irregular row, of much fewer spines than occur in a ventral row. 

 The spines of the back are few in number, and of only half the size 

 of the ventral spines. They are shaped like the marginal spines, 

 from which they are not ordinarily distinct, and are arranged on 

 reticulating ridges, forming a rather open net-work. On the disc 

 they form a pentagon, from each angle of which extends a median 

 row reaching to one-third the length of the ray. Within the penta- 

 gon, close to its periphery, the madreporic plate is situated. The 



