Echinoderms.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 301 



Distribution. — McMurdo Bay, Coulman Island (see Bell, 1908) ; Cape of Good 

 Hope (probably also Crozets, Marion Island, Prince Edward Island, Kerguelen, 

 Tristan da Cunha, Falklands, Magellan Strait). 



Remarks. — The history of the name Crihelln (or, as it is frequently spelt, Cribrdla) 

 is an interesting example of the tenacity with which a name may continue to 

 be erroneously applied to a genus. The whole question was raised and dealt with 

 fully by Bell (1890) in regard to the common English species. He pointed out that 

 Agassiz (1835) used the word as a synonym for Linckia, three species of which he 

 enumerated as belonging to the genus, not one of which is a Crihrella as usually 

 understood by recent authors ; under these circumstances, it should, if the rules of 

 priority are to be obeyed, disappear. It is true that recognised authorities (Koehler 

 and Ludwig, amongst others) still use Crihrella, and attribute the name to Agassiz 

 {vide Bronn's " Thierreichs "), in spite of the difference of spelling, which seems to 

 have been introduced by Forbes. But the true generic title is not the only matter 

 of difficulty that surrounds this and allied starfishes : a great deal of doubt hangs 

 over the distinction between, or the synonymy of, several of Sladen's " species," as 

 will be illustrated below. 



In the list of synonyms at the head of this account I have not included all those 

 that have been suggested. Thus, Bell (1905) has compared specimens oiH. ornata 

 collected at the Cape of Good Hope with Sladen's type of H. simplex, and finds them 

 to be identical. Some writers have suggested that H. simplex is the young of some 

 one or other of the subantarctic species. While comparing my specimens with 

 Sladen's account of H. simplex and H. obesa I found certain resemblances to each 

 of these species, and came to the conclusion that if the Auckland Island specimens 

 are not H. ornata they must be H. obesa. Koehler (1908, p. 629) has compared 

 H. ornata from the Cape with H. obesa from the Falkland Islands, and believes that 

 the two species are synoymous, though he does not go so far as to combine the two 

 accounts under one title. Ludwig (1905) and Leipoldt and Meissner believe that 

 H. obesa is synonymous with H. hyadesi, and the latter with H. pagenstecheri. There- 

 fore, since two things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another, 

 H. ornata would appear to be identical with H. pagenstecheri. Leipoldt and Meissner 

 have even gone so far as to include Sladen's H. praestans in this synonymy. On the 

 other hand, Ludwig does not admit that H. simplex is identical with H. obesa ; so 

 that we are left in considerable doubt as to what diiferences really exist between 

 them all. 



From the above summary we have, then, the following suggested synonymy : 

 H. ornata = simplex (fide Bell) = obesa (fide Koehler and Ludwig) ; H. obesa = pagen- 

 stecheri (fide Leipoldt, Meissner, Ludwig) = praestans (fide Leipoldt, Meissner) : 

 therefore, H. ornata = H. pagenstecheri = H. praestans. All these " species " occur 

 in subantarctic seas. 



Even if we limit the identity of H. ornata with H. simplex, we have the interesting 

 distribution from the Campbell and Auckland Islands and McMurdo Bay, in the 

 neighbourhood of New Zealand, to the Crozets, Kerguelen Island, Tristan da Cunha, 

 and the Cape of Good Hope ; while if it be admitted that it is synonymous with 

 H. d)esa its area is extended to the Falklands and to Magellan Strait. Nor is this at 

 all unique, for the starfish Odontaster grayi is also common to our seas and Magellan 

 Strait. 



