ASTKOPHYTOX COSTOSUM. 



195 



aiids, and at Charleston, S. C. It is fond of twining ronnd Gorf/onla', 

 in which situation I have taken it on the mud flats of Key West, just 

 below low-watei-niark. When taken out of the water, it rolls up its 

 man}' branches coni})actly. Its color, when alive, is similar to that of 

 the alcoholic specimen, but is more brilliant, and the color of the back 

 is more decidedly purjilish. 



It is very readily distinguished by the high radial ribs and their 

 coarse spines, the long, evenly branching arms, the al^sence of tentacle- 

 scales within the margin of the disk, the position of the madreporic 

 shield at the inner angle of the lower interbrachial space. 



The original ^^ Astrophjton costosum, co.stis conicis" &c., of Linck, is 

 not to be recognized as any species now known. Lamarck identified it 

 with ^1. arborescens, the Mediterranean species, and was followed in the 

 mistake by Agassiz. J. Miiller considered it the same as his A. murl- 

 ccdum, and was equally wrong. Seba gives an excellent plate of the 

 present species, and calls it Asirophijton costosinn, which name I have 

 kept, because it can be identified with certainty, and because it is 

 strictly binomial. 



In the Jardin des Plantes is the original of Euryale costosinn of Lar 

 marck (not Seba), brought by Mauge, in 1799, from the Antilles. There 

 is a second specimen brought from Guadeloupe, in 1837, by Beauper- 

 tuis. What is most extraordinary, is, first, that this is neither the true 

 A. costosnm {Euryale murkatum Lamk.), nor A. cceciUa, nor A. Krehsii, 

 the only species of the Antilles which the careful research of Dr. Liitken 

 has brought to light ; and, secondly, that this particular species bears so 

 close a resemblance to A. arhorescens as readily to pass for it. If it 

 should really turn out to be a distinct species, it must receive a new 

 name, as that of costosum is already taken. 



LIST OF SPECIMENS. 



Catalogue Orijrinal ' Number 

 Number. Number, i of Spec. 



464 

 4G.5 

 466 

 4G7 

 468 

 469 

 470 

 471 

 442 

 443 



1065 

 1066 



Locality. 



When 

 Colliicteil. 



Whence obtaioed. 



Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



Florida. 



Tortuiras, Fla. 



Tortuiras, Fin. 



Chark-ston. S. C. 



Elliott's Key, Fla. 



Florida. 



Florida. 



Key West, Fla. 



Bahamas. 



Kev West, Fh. 



Apr. 2, IS.")?. 

 Mar.23,1857. 



Nature of 

 Specimen. 



Sn)it/isoni(in Institution. 



Garden Key, Tortufras. 

 Garden Kev, Tortugas. 



Capt. II. G. Wright, i Alcoholic. 



