128 NEW INVEKTEBRATA FROM 



tacle forms a marked ferrule, separated from the remainder 

 of the body by a shallow constriction. Specimens of the 

 same genus, apparently the same species but of a yellow 

 color, were found. 



This Actiniarian is so different from any of those de- 

 scribed from the west coast that I have ventured to regard 

 it a new species. 



ECHINODERMATA. 



DERMASTERIAS IMBRICATA St. 



The following facts may be added to those already re- 

 corded in regard to this starfish. It has been described 

 and figured by others, but in none of the published accounts 

 has reference been made to its coloration. The genus is 

 one of the most brilliantly colored of the group. 



The external surface body is leathery, and when seen 

 from above is soft and destitute of spines. The color of the 

 abactinal region is bright orange and red ; on the actinal side 

 the body is white or brown, slightly cream colored. There 

 is a single row of feet on each side of the water tube on the 

 actinal surface of the arm. The size of large specimens 

 is eight inches in diameter. Anus central or subcentral. 

 There is a single bright yellow madreporic body. 



Dried specimens of Dermasterias show the marginal 

 plates, like those of Astropecten, very conspicuously. 

 These plates are, however, hidden in the live specimens 

 by the thick leathery dermal covering. Claus's descrip- 

 tion of a species from the Red Sea has the plates much 

 more prominent than the living D. imbricata, and corre- 

 sponds with a dried specimen of the same. 



The soft skin stretched over the calcareous plates and 

 the absence of spines on the aboral surface of the body 

 give a most exceptional appearance to the genus. When 



