158 BULLETIN OF THE 



ness between two calices from this locality than between one of them 

 and a calyx from Zanzibar. Ant. carinata is described by Rathbun as 

 probably ranging along the Brazilian coast from Rio Janeiro to Per- 

 nambuco. It was not obtained by the " Blake " at all ; but it was found 

 in abundance by Captain Cole, of the " Investigator," in 278 fathoms, 

 off St. Lucia, so that it may fairly be considered as belonging to the 

 Caribbean fauna. 



The two Comatulce which appear from their abundance to be espe- 

 cially characteristic of the neighborhood of the Caribbean Islands, ran- 

 ging from Santa Cruz to Grenada, are an Antedon and an Actinometra, 

 both of which had been obtained previously to the " Blake " Expedition of 

 1878-79. In the year 1870, M. Duchassaing brought from Guadeloupe 

 to the Paris Museum a fine specimen of Antedon, with thirty very spiny 

 arms. Prof. Perrier having kindly permitted me to examine this type 

 and to make a note of its characters, I readily recognized it in the 

 " Blake " collection, and propose to name it Ant. spinifera. It was ob- 

 tained by the "Blake " (1878-79) at ten stations, in depths of from 80| 

 to 297 fathoms. It was most abundant at No. 269, in 12-4 fathoms, off 

 St. Vincent, and was also dredged in 278 fathoms, off St. Lucia, by 

 the "Investigator." Its more striking distinctive characters are as 

 follows : — 



Antedon spinifera n. sp. 



Cirrhi 12-20, long and slender, composed of 40-60 joints, the later ones of 

 which bear dorsal spines. The rays may fork four times, each subdivision 

 consisting of two joints not united by a syzygy. Usually, however, there are 

 not more than two axillaries, the distichal and the palmar, above the radials ; 

 and palmare are frequently only developed upon the inner pair of the four sec- 

 ondary arms, so that there are thirty arms in all (as in the Paris specimen), 

 viz. six on each ray, in the following order: 1, 2, 2, 1. Tolerably large sharp 

 spines are scattered irregularly over the calyx and arm-bases. The arm-jointa 

 are triangular in outline, alternating with one another from side to side; and 

 from near the base of each triangular surface there rises a strong curved spine, 

 which projects forwards and Blightly outwards. On the lower parts of the anus. 

 therefore, there is a double row of these spines alternating right and left of the 

 median dorsal line;bu1 Eaxther out, as the joints become more and mere corn- 

 el laterally, the two rows gradually coalesce into a single median one. the 



-pines at the same time becoming less and less prominent. The disk hears a 



fairly complete anambulacral plating, and there is a double row of plates along 

 each edge of the pinnule ambulacra, viz. side plates resting <>n the pinnule 

 joints and supporting the covering plates which overlap one another alternately 

 from opposite sides. The color varies from almost white through pale straw- 



