fieio Sea-star from I long Knug. 417 



on tlie pnpulnr margin (upwards of thirty-five on the larger 

 plates of radial rej^ion, from 0*135 to 0*28 mm. long), the 

 remuiudcr of plute being buie. The plates just outside the 

 papular areas curry a spicule, or sometimes several, but a 

 marginal band of plates (3"5 mm. wide) is entirely bare. 

 Surlace of plutos dotted with tiny bead-like bosses. No 

 small secondary plates. 



The inferomarginal plates define the ambitus, and carry 

 each a thick brush of sliort spicules. The superomarginals 

 are entirely abactinal and are unarmed. 



Aciinal plates, in about ten chevrons, are in quite regular 

 transverse series. They bear spaceil, webbed, curved combs 

 of four to seven slender tapered spinelets, the laterals 

 decidedly shorter thau tiie median, so that tho margin of the 

 comlj is convex. 



Furrow spine-lets seven or eight, slender, terete, blunt, in a 

 very convex comb, of which the adoral spinelet is much 

 shorter than the aboral. The subanibulacral comb, well 

 spaced from the above, is also very convex and consists of 

 six to eight slender tapered spinelets, the laterals being very 

 short. 



Oral spinelets, 20 to 24 to each pair of mouth-plates, are 

 slender, opaque, terete, blunt, neaily uniform in diameter, 

 and are webbed into a conlinuous series. The innermost 

 spine of each plate (the median two of entire series) not 

 noticeably stouter than the others. The seven to nine 

 suboral spinelets form on each plate a ?-sliaped series, of 

 which the long axis is about parallel with median suture. 



Madreporic body small, irregularly quadrate, 2 unn. from 

 anu.-. 



Ti/pe-localiti/. — Hong Kong (seaward side of island, low 

 tide). Collected by Arthur S. Campbell. The type will be 

 deposited in the U.S. National Museum. 



llemarks. — Dr. H. L. ('laik has kindly compared the 

 holotype with that of ^4. tiudu, and informs me tliat in his 

 opinion the species are quite distinct though undoubtedly 

 nearly allied. "The really obvious and important ditferenco 

 is in tho arinatur« of the oral plates, whicli is very striking 

 when the specimens are compared. The glossy acicular 

 spines of riuda give a very ditlerent facies from that of the 

 blunt opaque spines of the Hong Kong sea-star. I think 

 the skeletal plates in the Chinese specimen are smaller and 

 more numerous than in nuda, especially the actinolaterals, 

 but this ditl'erence may not be constant nor important. Suda 

 is much more free of spinelets abactinally than the Chinese 

 Asterina. Finally, the appearance of tho dry nuda is shiny, 



