Indian Deep-sea Asteroidea. 75 



for instance, Zoroaster cirinaius, of which over a score have 

 been taken at one haul, Pontaster hispidus, of which about 

 fifty have been dredged at the same time, and Nijmphaster 

 florifer^ of wliich a liundred and fifty have come up on the 

 tangle-bar. Like their shallow-water relatives they seem to 

 subsist largely on nioUusks, the shells of which, along with 

 the chitinous remains of prawns and amphij)od3, are often to 

 be found in their stomachs ; but some of the characteristic 

 batliybial forms, as Parnrchaster ^ Pontaster^ Porcellana^terj 

 Styracaster^ and Hyphalasler^ apj)ear to gorge themselves 

 with Glohigerina-oozQ. A curious case of symbiosis, which 

 has been observed too often to be a merely accidental associa- 

 tion, occurs between Dictyaster xenophilus and an annelid. 



Some of the species noticed in this paper have already been 

 described in joint papers by Professor Wood-Mason and 

 myself upon the recent dredging-operations of the ' Investi- 

 gator ; ' but owing to the discovery of further material in the 

 examination of the collections of former years, I have found 

 it necessary to amend the diagnoses of Persephonaster and 

 Dictyaster^ and I have redeseribed Dytaster anacantlius^ 

 Persephonaster croceus, Persephonaster rhodopeplu.i, Dictyaster 

 xenophilus, and Aster ias mazophorus^ and have more fully 

 described three species of Brisinga, namely B. tnsularam, 

 B. andamanica, and B. bengalensis, which betbre were merely 

 named. 



I have to express my great obligations to Mr. Sladen's 

 classical volumes on the ' Challenger ' Asteroidea, to which I 

 owe guidance on every point. Mr. Sladen's classification is 

 followed throughout, in the conviction that it is the expression 

 of natural relations. 



§ 2. List of the Asteroidea, with Descriptions of the 

 Species believed to be new. 



Family Archasteridse. 

 Pararchaster, Sladen. 



1. Pararchaster semis<piainatus, Sladen. 



Pararchaster ^emisquamatus, Sladen, ' Challenf^er ' Asteroidea, p. 7, 

 pi. ii. lijrs. 1 and 2, pi. iv. fi<r-. 7 and 8 ; and in Wood-. Mason and 

 Alcock, " Indian Deep-sea Dredging," Ann. A: Mag. Nat. liist., Dec. 

 1891, p. 423. 



Bay of Bengal, on a bottom of Globiyerina-oozc, in 1G64 

 fathoms. 



Colour uniform salmon-red. 



6" 



