112 Rev. A. M. Norman on the Genera and 



transversely oblong scales, which are separated from each other 

 by transverse rows of tubercles ; lateral plates bearing rather 

 short, spreading, blunt, simple spines. Oral plates margined 

 with a few flattened papillse. One or two valvular plates over 

 the tentacular pores. 



Ophiopholis aculeata (0. F. Miiller). 



1776. Asterias aculeata, Miiller, Zool. Dan. Prod. p. 235. no. 2841 ; and 



1789. Zool. Dan. vol. iii. p. 29, pi. 99. figs. 1-3. 

 1828. Ophiura bellis, Fleming, British Animals, p. 488. 

 1842. Ophiolepis scolopendrica, Miiller & Troschel, Syst. der Asteriden, 



p. 96. 

 1858. Ophiopholis aculeata, Liitken, Addit. ad hist. Ophiuridarum, Forste 



Afdeling, p. 60, pi. 2. figs. 16, 17. 



Found all round our coast, but scarcer in the south. To the 

 north it ranges throughout the Scandinavian seas, and occurs 

 also in Greenland and Western America. 



Genus IX. Ophiura, Lamarck. 



Ophiura, Lamarck, 1814; Ophiolepis \^^xt\y), Miiller & Troschel, 1840. 



Disk covered with smooth scales, of which two, larger than 

 the rest and triangular, are situated over the inserted base of 

 each arm. Arms simple, scaly; spines three, appressed and 

 articulated to the distal margin of the overlapping side-plates. 

 Interradial plates large, shield- or fiddle-shaped, produced into 

 the interbrachial spaces. Clasping-scales at the junction of the 

 arms with the disk furnished with spines or papillse on their 

 edge. Oral plates with papiUiferous margins. 



Ophiura lacertosa (Pennant). 



1733. Stella lacertosa, Linek, De Stellis marinis, p. 47, pi. 2. fig. 4. 



1777. Asterias lacertosa. Pennant, Brit. Zool. vol. iv. p. 63. 



1805. Asterias ciliata, Retzius, Diss, sistens species cognitas Asteriarum, 



p. 29. 

 1816. Ophiura texturata, Lamarck, Hist. Anim. sans Vert. vol. ii. p. 542. 

 1842. Ophiolepis ciliata, Miill. & Troschel, Syst. der Asteriden, p. 91. 



Interradial plates fiddle-shaped, much longer than broad, ex- 

 ceeding in length the space between their apices and the 

 margin of the disk. Lateral ray-plates of the first few joints 

 not meeting each other on the under surface of the arms, 

 thus leaving a hollow pore in the centre between each inferior 

 arm-plate. Dorsal arm-plates transversely oblong; ventral 

 arm-plates lenticular. Spines not equallmg in length the 

 plates to which they are attached. Clasping-scales with SO- 

 SO long and slender marginal spines. Three or four papilli- 

 form spines at each tentacular pore. 



Diameter of disk 1 inch. 



All round our coasts, and ranging from the Mediterranean to 



