DR. P. H. CARPENTER OlST SOME ARCTIC COMATULiE. 55 



1. Aktedon quadrata *, Carpenter. 



Levinseut lias recently deuied the distinctness of this species 

 from Antedon EschricJiti on the ground that its characters, as 

 stated by von Marenzeller and Sladen, andia my own preliminary 

 description, all present themselves in immature examples of 

 A. Eschrichti. He has not, however, seen any authentic specimens 

 of it, so that he has not had the opportunity of comparing them 

 witli equal-sized but still immature examples of A. EschricMi . 

 This I have been able to do, as explained ia my Eeport on the 

 ' Challenger ' Comatulse % ; and I am still inclined to agree with 

 Sladen in keeping the two species distinct. He is the only other 

 naturalist besides myself who has had the means of directly com- 

 paring mature examples of tbie two species which were obtained 

 at the same locality ; and neither von Marenzeller nor Sladen 

 ever seem to have had any suspicion that the forms which they 

 were describing as Antedon celtica might be young examples of 

 A. Eschrichti. Neither do I think that this view would occur 

 to any one familiar with A. Eschrichti who examined the fine 

 specimen of ^. quadrata obtained by the ' Varna ' in the Kara Sea§, 

 the general facies of the two forms being altogether different. 



2. Antedon prolixa, Sladen. (Plate II. figs. 1-4, 6.) 

 Feilden's dredgings at Discovery Bay during Sir George Nares's 



Arctic Expedition of 1875-76 yielded some specimens of an 

 Antedon which Sladen took to be new ; but, as we shall see sub- 

 sequently, it had been already obtained, though not described, 

 both by the ' Porcupine ' and by the ' Tegetthoff".' Sladen gave 

 a careful diagnosis of the type under the specific nsnoae prolixa \\ ; 

 and when the ' Varna ' Comatulee from the Kara Sea came into 

 my hands I found two examples of this form among them %. 



In the following year Dr. Eischer published his account of the 

 Echinoderms which he had collected at the Austro-Hungarian 



* The synonymy of this species will be found on p. 149 of the Eeport on 

 the ' Challenger ' Oomatulse. 



t " Kara-Havets Echinodermata," Dijmphna-Togtets zoologisk-botaniske Ud- 

 hytte, Kjobenhavn, 1886, p. 413. 



I Zool. Chall. Exp. vol. xxvi. 1888, pp. 150-156. 



§ " Zoologische Bijclragen tot de Kennis der Karazee : II. Eeport on the 

 Comatulsa," Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 1887, 14. Afl. p. 42. fig, 1. 



II Oj). cit. p. 77. 



^ ' Eeport on the Comatulse of the Kara Sea,' p. 44, figs. 2, 3, 



