94 ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS MADE DURING [Jan. 4, 



to differences in modes of preservation, or to be such as come within 

 the range of individual variations, 



AsTERiAS NEGLECTA, sp. n. (Plate IX. fig. 4.) 



The species now to he described is represented by a specimen 

 which was brought home by Dr. Cunningham, and which has as 

 vet remained undescribed. It resembles A. meridionalis in having 

 a groove between the spines of the actinal and abactinal surfaces, in 

 which the papular spaces are largely developed ; but it is more 

 closelv similar to A. brandti in the characters of its abactinal 

 surface, for granules are developed on the spine-bearing plates. 



Arms five, elongated, and tapering gradually ; the adatnbulacral 

 spines are arranged in two rows, are cylindrical in form, and are 

 about 2 milhms. long at the middle of the arm ; on either side of 

 these there are three or fo\ir irregular longitudinal rows of siiort 

 spines. The plates on the abactinal surface are richly covered with 

 granules ; these are closely set, are irregular in shape, and are each 

 provided with a single short spine, which is hardly lighter in colour 

 than the brown plate itself; the disks are somewhat irregularly 

 arrano-ed in six rows ; and occasionally there are two spines on one 

 disk,° At the side of the arm and above the already mentioned 

 groove there is a row of spines : these are set singly at the base 

 of the arm ; but they rapidly become double, and occasionally a 

 third spine appears. The deeply set madreporic plate is placed 

 quite at the edge of the central disk, on which the spine-bearing 

 plates frequently have two or even three spines developed. iJ=83 ; 

 »-=12; or the greater radius is about seven times the less. 

 Greatest breadth of arm 19"5 millims. 



One specimen, Gregory Bay. Coll. Cunningham *. 



Labidiaster, Liitken, 18/1 (Vidensk. Medd. 1871, p. 289). 



I have no hesitation in placing the specimen now to be described 

 in this genus ; the only point in which it does not satisfy the 

 definition of Dr. Liitken is in the number of its arms. The learned 

 naturahst who defined this genus says " brachia numero.sa, triginta 

 vel pluria." The species now to be described has in all only twenty- 

 six arms^; but I cannot think that this difference is, at the utmost, 

 anv more than a very poor specific character. The size of the 

 specimen collected by Dr. Cunningham is rather less than half that 

 of the one described by Liitken. If it is a different species from that 

 form, the specific characters are not as yet sufficiently well marked 

 to enable us to define it as such. I look upon it as a young 

 specimen of L. radiosus, Liitken ; if it shall turn out to be distinct, 



1 I subjoin a list of the other species from this region which are represented 

 by specimens in the national collection : — 



A. sulcifera, Perrier. Cape St. Vincent, Fuegia. 



A. ruffispina, Stimpson. Gregory Bay. 



A. fcrrieri, Smith. Kerguelen. 



A. meridionalis, Perrier. Kerguelen. 



A. anfarctica, Liitken. 



^ So Stiider foimd a specimen with 29 arms (MB. Akad. Berl. 1876, p. 457). 



