1881.] PROF. F. J. BELL ON THE GENUS ASTERIAS. 51.3 



General coloration (after at least twenty-five years' immersion in 

 spirit) vvliite, the suckers yellowish. i?=41, ?•= 13. Arms 

 13'5 millim. broad at base, 3 rniUim. at tip of arm. 



AsTERiAs VERRiLLi, n. sp. (Plate XL VII. figs. 3, 3a.) 

 General formula latr. 



Arms five, stout ; disk large ; ambulacral grooves very wide, adam- 

 bulacral spines in a single row, madreporic plate anechinoplacid, and 

 almost exactly midway between the centre and the margin of the 

 disk, small and obscure ; typacanthid spines on abactinal surface 

 rare, irregular, short, stout, with knobbed ends, more numerous in 

 younger specimens. Respiratory pa])ulae numerous, and in the 

 adult arranged in distinct groups. Clumps of two, three, or four 

 spines, proportionally longer in the young forms, occupy the margins 

 of the actinal surface of the arms ; they are longest and most 

 distinct nearest the disk. The side is separated from the dorsal 

 surface of the arm by a somewhat obscure and not closely packed 

 row of short stout spines. R = 48, ?•= 1 6 .•. R=^3r ; breadth of arms 

 at base=14 millim., near tip 4"5 millim.; It=28'5, r=7'5, or 

 R=3-8r. 



If the specimens have been correctly referred to one species, the 

 spines on the dorsal surface are rather more distinct in the smaller 

 forms, the row of spines running along the upper edge of the side of 

 the arm is more distinct, and the general appearance of the specimens 

 is somewhat different, owing to the greater length and number of the 

 spines on them. 



The largest specimen, which has been for about forty years in 

 spirit, and the companion specimen are of a brownish coloration. 

 They were collected by the " Antarctic Expedition " in St. Martin's 

 Cove ; the three smaller specimens, which were presented to the 

 Museum in 1868, were collected by Dr. Cunningham in " Peckett 

 Harbour and Gregory Bay," and off Elizabeth Island, and are 

 cream-white. 



AsTERiAs spiRABiLis, n. sp. (Plate XLVIII. fig. 4.) 



This species, which was collected in 1842 off the Falkland Islands, 

 is remarkable for the very great development of the membranous 

 respiratory processes. 



General formula laf)'. 



Arms five, rather long, thick, tapering regularly, not wide at the 

 base ; di.«k comparatively small. Adambulacral spines in a single 

 row ; madreporic plate small, obscure, about midway between the 

 centre and the edge of the disk. The whole of the abactinal 

 surface and the sides of the rays are quite soft, owing to the great 

 development of the membranous papulae, which completely cover the 

 disk and arms and almost totally obscure the tubercles of the back. 

 The rather closely packed, not specially stout, adambulacral spines 

 are separated from those that lie beyond them by a fringing line of 

 large respiratory processes. The sides of the actinal surface are 



