314 Miscellaneous. 



(from Freya, a Scandinavian goddess) for the form which I have 

 named B. Edwardsii, and for the new forms F. spinulosa and 

 F, sexradiata. In these forms all the inflated portion of the arms 

 is in fact entirely covered with polygonal plates still arranged in not 

 very regular arches, equal in number to the adambulacral plates in 

 B. Edwardsii, of which we possess only one arm, but forming, on the 

 contrary, a regular mosaic in F. spinidosa and F. sexradiata. This 

 last form, obtained from a depth of 4060 metres, is remarkable for 

 the small number of its arms, six only ; F. spimdosa, on the contrary, 

 has from eleven to fifteen, generally thirteen very long arms ; it is 

 of an orange-yellow colour, and when living diffuses a pretty strong 

 alliaceous odour. It is met with from the Cape Yerde to the Azores 

 at depths of 2000-4000 metres. The FreyeUce, which are remarkable 

 even by the peculiar construction of their skeleton, do not bear large 

 spines like B. coronata or robusta ; their skeletal plates are smooth 

 in F. Edivardsii, furnished each with a smaU prickle in F. sexradiata, 

 and with a transverse row of small spinules in F. spinidosa. 



Lastly, the Coronasteres in appearance exactly resemble the 

 species of Asterias of the group of A. tenuispina, and possess, like 

 them, a dorsal skeleton reticulated with large meshes. But their 

 ambulacral tubes are arranged only in two rows, and their spines 

 are enveloped in a sheath which may ascend nearly to the apex and 

 which bears an elegant fringe of pedicellarise. The arms, which are 

 very easily detached from the disc, as in the Brisingce, are eleven in 

 number. A single specimen was obtained at the Cape Verde Islands 

 at a depth of 250 metres. Coronaster forms a term exactly inter- 

 mediate between Lahidiaster and Asterias, and the latter is thus 

 closely affined to the Brisingce, just as Freyella sexradiata leads 

 directly from the Brisingce to the Pedicdlasteres with five and six 

 arms. The Brisingce., while still remaining very remarkable forms 

 and comparatively isolated from the Ophiurans to which they were at 

 first approximated, are thus, by the new discoveries, more and more 

 distinctly united with the Stellerida properly so called. From the 

 point of view of the development of the dorsal skeleton they may be 

 arranged in an ascending series after the following fashion : — 

 Hymenodiscus Agassizii, E. P. ; Brisinga mediterranea, E. P. ; B. 

 elegayis, E. P. ; B. endecacnemos, Asbjornsen ; B. coronata, E. P. ; 

 B. semi-coronata, E. P. ; B. robusta, E. P. ; Lahidiaster radiosus, 

 Loven ; Brisingaster Bohillardi, de Loriol ; Pedicellaster typicus, 

 Loven ; Coronaster Parfaiti, E. P. ; Asterias tenuispina, Lamk. 

 The Freyellce form an aberrant series. — Convptes Eendus, August 10, 

 1885, p. 441. 



On a new Species of Land-Tortoise, brought by M. Humblot to the 

 Museum of Natural History. By M. L#.ON Vaillant. 

 The abundance and remarkable variety of specific types presented 

 by the group of Land-Tortoises in Africa, and especially in the 

 islands situated to the east of that continent, are facts which have 

 long been known, and important memoirs have been published upon 

 this subject, among which it is sufficient to refer to Dr. Glinther's 



