MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 157 



specific name meridionalis must be restricted to the type from South 

 Carolina, on which it was originally conferred. The only example of 

 this type which has reached me is too imperfect for a satisfactory specific 

 diagnosis to be framed upon it. It is valuable, however, for having 

 two Peutacrinoids entangled in its cirrhi, to which I shall refer im- 

 mediately. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Pourtales in thinking that 

 the specimens from French Reef (18G ( J) belong to the same type, and 

 also those obtained by the " Hassler " off Cape Frio. The latter cer- 

 tainly constitute a strongly marked variety (as indicated by him on his 

 labels), which differs from the French Reef specimens in the characters 

 of the cirrhi, and especially in the relative proportions of the lower 

 pinnules. I have dissected the calices of both, and find them to be so 

 very similar that the differences between them can hardly be regarded as 

 due to anything more than local variation. The radials of the French 

 Reef specimens are relatively higher and slightly more sloping than 

 those of the Cape Frio variety ; but were these calices fossil specimens 

 I should have much hesitation in referring them to different species. 

 There is another structural character that I shall mention later on as 

 common to certain examples from both localities. It is therefore of 

 some importance as tending to indicate their specific identity. 



Liitkcn has given the MS. name Antedon brasiliensis to a ten-armed 

 Comahda which is abundant on the coast of Brazil. It was described 

 by Mr. Pourtales* as answering "to the description of the Comatula 

 carinata Lamk. (Leach, sp.) " from Mauritius, and as differing only in 

 some minor details from Zanzibar specimens of Ant. carinata. Rathbun 

 has spoken to the same effect, f and though I was at first inclined to 

 follow Liitken in separating the two types, further study has led me to 

 believe in their specific identity. By the kindness of Prof. Mobius, of 

 Kiel, I have been enabled to examine specimens of Ant. carinata from 

 Mauritius. This is the original locality of Mailer's type specimens, 

 which Prof. E. von Martens courteously permitted me to study in the 

 University Museum at Berlin. I have also seen specimens from Chili. 

 Madagascar, St. Helena, the Seychelles, the Red Sea, and Aden, and 

 find it impossible to separate them specifically. This conclusion is con- 

 firmed by the resemblance between the dissected calices of specimens 

 from Bahia and Zanzibar. They are so very similar that, if they were 

 fossils. I should unhesitatingly refer them to the Bame species. In tact. 



the Bahia specimens vary considerably inter w, and there is less like- 



* Bull. Mas. Comp. ZoBL, Vol. V. No. \\ p. -ji i. 



t A List ni' the Brazilian Melanoderma. Trans. Connect. Acad., VoL V. p. 156. 



