526 ON NEW OE LITTLE-KI^OWN COMATULJi;. 



7. AcTiisroMETEA Bennetti, 3fiis. Lei/cl. sp.* 



The Hamburg Museum contains two examples of this fine spe- 

 cies, which differ in points of detail from the somewhat mutilated 

 type specimens in the Leyden Museum. One of them, which 

 was obtained at (Singapore, a new locality for the type, is remark- 

 ably perfect ; while the other (sine patria) is considerably muti- 

 lated, nothing remaining but the calyx, arm-bases, and disk. As 

 in the type specimens, the mouth of this individual is nearly 

 radial, though not absolutely so ; wkile it is absolutely inter- 

 radial in that from Singapore. I find that variations of this kind 

 are not uncommon in species with very numerous arms, and 

 that the position of the mouth relatively to the rays is fcir less 

 constant than in the simpler forms with 10-10 arms. 



The centrodorsal reaches 12 mm. in diameter ; and in both in- 

 dividuals the cirri are much longer and stouter than in the type. 

 Some of them reach 35 mm. in length, and consist of the same 

 number of joints, 8 or 10 more than in the type; while the basal 

 joints are very broad, and there are few, if any, that are at all 

 longer than broad. The calyx and ray-divisions are of the same 

 nature as in the type, each division of three joints, the axillary 

 with a syzygy. In the Singapore specimen the surface of the 

 joints is smooth and even ; but in the other their edges are 

 slightly raised and somewhat spiny. Tn both individuals the 

 fourth and following brachials are almost devoid of the alterna- 

 ting backward projections which are visible in the corresponding 

 joints of the type specimens ; but some arms of the Singapore 

 form have slight tubercles in the same positions. Its remain- 

 ing arm-joints are essentially similar to those of the type speci- 

 mens, except that they are somewhat wider relatively to their 

 length, while the second syzygy is rather further from the calyx ; 

 though I have not found it as far out as the 38th joint, as in the 

 individual examined by Bohlsche. 



Botli specimens are remarkable for the great length of their 

 lowest pinnules, which may reach 40 mm., but are relatively 

 slender, none of their joints, except the broad basal ones, being 

 specially stout. These lower pinnules, and in fact the whole 

 arms, of the Singapore individual are much more clothed with 

 perisome than are those of the type specimens at Leyden^ 



* l^he literature ot' this species will be found on p. 212 of ' ISTotes from tbe 

 teydeu Mufjeum,' vol. iii 



