1872.] CAPT. F. W. HCTTON ON NEW STARFISHES. 811 



OpniONEREIS FASCIATA, Sp. DOV. 



Disk round ; radial shields small, half covered, parallel, distant ; 

 scales small, larger near the margin. 



Rays five to six times the diameter of the disk ; under ray-plates 

 squarish, outer edge straight ; upper ray-plates rectangular, broader 

 thau loug, outer edge concave ; spines in three or four rows, rounded, 

 slightly tapering, about equal in length, rather longer than the 

 breadth of the ray ; tentacle-scale large, rounded, oval. 



Mouth-shields broadly ovate ; mouth-papillae small, round, and 

 blunt, four on each side. 



Colour yellowish white, the rays banded above and below with 

 purplish black, and the disk irregularly marked with the same 

 colour ; mouth-shields black ; mouth-papillae white. 



About 5 inches from the tips of the rays. 



Cook's Straits, on rocks below high-water mark (F. W. H.), and 

 the Chatham Islands (H. H. Travers). 



Ophiactis nigrescens, sp. nov. 



Disk rounded; radial shields narrow, oblong, widely diverging, 

 shagreened ; remainder of disk covered with small scales bearing 

 short round spines, giving them a granulated appearance. 



Rays about six times the diameter of the disk ; under plates 

 broader than long, with the inner and outer margins convex, and the 

 lateral margins concave ; upper plates wedge-shaped, the point 

 inwards and truncate, outer margin convex ; spines four in a row, 

 cylindrical, with blunt points shagreened, the upper one much 

 larger than the others, and longer than the breadth of the ray. 



Mouth-shields oblongo-peutagonal, the point outwards, and nar- 

 rowed inwards. 



Colour brownish black. 



About 6 inches from ray to ray. 



Several specimens are in the Colonial Museum ; but the locality is 

 not stated. 



Ophiura cylindrica, sp. nov. 



Disk subpentagonal, granulated. 



Rays from three to four times the diameter of the disk, scarcely 

 tapering, and rather flattened above ; lower ray-plates longer than 

 broad, outer edge convex ; upper ray-plates convex on the outer 

 edge and tapering inwards, nearly as long as broad ; side plates with 

 six equal, rather pointed, short spines, which do not cover half of 

 the next plate. 



Mouth-shields irregular, cordate or lenticular, sometimes obsolete ; 

 side mouth-shields the same ; mouth-papillae G-8, the two outer 

 ones broader. 



Colour pale yellowish brown; rays with dark brown transverse 

 bands, edged with black, on the upper surface ; disk spotted and 

 mottled with the same. 



About 3 inches from the tips of the rays. 



Two specimens are in the Colonial Museum, locality not stated. 



