328 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



described 0. fulva from deep water (175 fms.) off Havana, Cuba. The 

 unique holotype (M. C. Z. 1,555) is in faii'ly good condition, though all 

 the arms are broken. Whether this species has since been met with 

 is doubtful. The specimens from the Blake collection which Mr. 

 L^man called 0. fulva appear to be 0. hartmeycri Koehler and the same 

 is probably true of some, if not all, the Porto Rican specimens re- 

 corded by me as 0. fulva (1901. Bull. U. S. F. C, 2, p. 245). A full 

 twenty years elapsed before another Ophiopsila was reported, and 

 then it was discovered in the Indian Ocean, among the islands of the 

 Mergui Archipelago; to it Koehler gave the name 0. pantherina. 

 Since 1898, three additional species have been recorded from the West 

 Indies, one from the east coast of southern Africa, and one from the 

 Dutch East Indies. Apparently these are all valid species with well- 

 marked characters. 



Ophiopsila is so sharply defined and so isolated that Matsumoto 

 ranks it in a subfamily of Ophiocomidae. Verrill has attempted to 

 divide it into two genera but no other student has followed him and 

 his Amphipsila is generally regarded as a synonym of Ophiopsila. 

 Including the new species from the Tortugas, the eleven members of 

 this genus may be distinguished from each other as follows: — 



Key to the Species of Ophiopsila. 



Arm-spines 10-12. 



h Uppermost arm-spines smallest annulosa 



h' Middle arm-spines smallest. 



c Arm-spines not very slender; tooth-papillae 4-6; upper arm-plates, 

 at middle of arm, squarish or wider than long, with slightly rounded 



angles fulva 



c' Arm-spines very slender; tooth-papillae 8-10; upper arm-plates 



relatively longer and more rounded polyacantha 



' Arm-spines 8 or fewer. 



b Arm-spines only 4 paucispina 



b' Arm-spines 6-8. 



c Disk, above and below, and at least basal part of arms more or less 



freely sprinkled with black dots riisei 



c' No such sprinkling of black dots. 



d Tooth-papillae only 3, stout; arm-spines 7 or 8; disk with distinct 



scales, and brown spots; arms banded maculata 



d' Tooth-papillae 6 or more, small, crowded. 



e Disk without scales, or spots; arm-spines 8, middle ones smallest; 

 arms banded vittata 



