ECHINODERMATA. RADIATA. HOLOTHURIA. 345 



AsTE'rIAS (StELLO'NIa) RUBENS, Lin.; Encyc. Mith., pi. 112, 

 f. 3,4; pi. 113, f. 1,2. 



This is the common Star-fish or Five-finger of our coast. Its 

 colors and proportions are very various. Many of the specimens 

 are of a blood-red color during life, and others are yellowish. I 

 regard them all as the same species. 



Aste'rias spongio'sa .'' A small, but beautiful species, of a 

 brick-red color, which may perhaps be this species, was sent 

 from Martha's Vineyard, by Dr. Yale. 



Ophiu RA lacerto'sa } The disk is small, the rays long and 

 rounded, their sides beset with short, overlapping spines, the 

 color olive-green. It does not agree well with any description I 

 have seen. Dredged by Professor Adams, at Dartmouth. 



OpHIU'RA ACULEA TA, Lin. ; Encyc. Mitk., pi. 124, f. 2, 3. 



The disk is covered with scales and granules, the rays are usu- 

 ally red, but often with alternate rings of red and dark-brown, and 

 their sides are armed witli a row of four or five spines on each 

 joint. They are devoured in great numbers by fish. 



EuRY'ALE scuta'tum, Blainv. This is one of the varieties 

 of the Linnaean Jlsterias caput-Medusm. The disk is large, the 

 rays five, repeatedly dividing into two branches until the extremi- 

 ties become mere twigs. I have received two or three specimens 

 which were collected at Cape Ann and about Cape Cod. 



HoLOTHURIA (cLADODa'cTYLa) PENTa'cTES, Muli.er; Zool. 

 Dan. Encyc. Melh., pi. 86, f. 5. 



Not certainly determined. 



HoLOTHURIA CHRYSACANTHo'pHORA, Couth.; Bost. Journ. JVat. 

 Hist., ii. .58. 



This is not unlikely to be the H. forcipata of O. Fabricius. 

 Several specimens which I have seen, were all taken from fishes' 

 stomachs, in a mutilated state. Some of the essential characters, 

 therefore, remain yet undetermined. The surface is light colored, 

 and appears to be naked, except that there are several long, flexi- 

 ble, sharp-pointed spines about the mouth, of a shining golden- 

 yellow. One specimen is five or six inches in length. 

 44 



