Indian Deep-sea Asteroidea. 75 



for instance, Zoroaster cartnatus, 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 which a hundred and fifty have come up on the 

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

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

 the chitinous remains of prawns and amphipods, are often to 

 be found in their stomachs ; but some of the characteristic 

 bathybial forms, as Pararchaster ^ Pontaster^ Porcellanaster, 

 Styracaster^ and Hyphalaster^ appear 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 redescribed Dytaster anacantlius^ 

 Persephonaster croceus, Persephonaster rhodopeplus^ Dictyaster 

 xenophilus, and Astertas mazophorus, and have more fully 

 described three species of Brisinga, namely B. insularam, 

 B. andamanictty and B. hengalensis, which before 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 Descriptio7is of the 

 Species believed to be new. 



Family Archasteridae. 

 Pararchastee^ Sladen. 



1. Pararchaster semisquamatuSy Sladen. 



Pararchaster semisquamatus, Sladen, * Challenger ' Asteroidea, p. 7, 

 pi. ii. figs. 1 and 2, pi. iv. figs. 7 and 8 ; and in Wood-Mason and 

 Alcock, " Indian Deep-sea Dredging," Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Dec. 

 1891, p. 428. 



Bay of Bengal, on a bottom of Ghbigerina-oozo,, in 1664 

 fathoms. 



Colour uniform salmon-red. 



6* 



