OPHIURANS OF THE PHILIPPINE AND ADJACENT WATEES. 349 



which was only represented by a single specimen with five arm 

 spines, the first ventral the largest, and without distinct pores between 

 the under arm plates, as well as P. elata, an Atlantic form, also 

 without ventral pores and possessing very large tentacle scales on 

 the first pair of pores, with four subequal spines at the base of the 

 arms. 



Bathypectinura conspicua, taken in a very broad sense, has a vast 

 geographical range, for it exists in the three great oceans — the At- 

 lantic, the Indian, and the Pacific. Its bathymetrical range is also 

 lather great, since the extreme limits of the depths at which it has 

 been captured are 393 meters (215 fathoms) — Albatross station 

 5216 — and 335 meters (183 fathoms) — B. modesta of the Siboga — 

 on the one hand and 2,503 meters (1,375 fathoms) — P. elata of the 

 Talisman — on the other. 



In speaking of the variations of B. conspicua, I have only consid- 

 ered the forms which I have been able personally to study — B. 

 modesta and B. elata/ but, as I have said above, I am led to believe 

 that two other species also referred to the genus Bathypectinura 

 should be united with B. conspicua; these are Pectinura heros Lyman, 

 which the Challenger found in 5° S. latitude and 134° E. longitude in 

 1,460 meters (800 fathoms) in the vicinity of the station where the 

 Siboga dredged B. conspicua, and P. tesselleta Lyman, which the 

 Blake collected in the Danish West Indies in 451 fathoms (824 

 meters). 



In Lyman's Pectinura heros the diameter of the disk is 22 mm., 

 and the length of the spines, which are three in number, almost 

 equals half that of the segment; but Lyman does not say whether 

 these spines are equal or unequal ; on the figures which he published, 

 both in 1879 (79, pi. 14, fig. 391) and in 1882 ('82, pi. 23, fig. 10), 

 he shows the ventral spine longer than the others. In P. tessellata 

 the diameter of the disk is 17.5 mm., the spines are four or five in 

 number, and according to Lymans figure ('83, pi. 3, fig. 3) the ven- 

 tral spine is a little longer than the others. These two species seem 

 to me quite identical with certain specimens of B. conspicua of the 

 same size. 



Very recently Matsumoto ('15, p. 87) described under the name of 

 Bathypectinura gotoi an ophiuran from Sagami Bay, 311 meters 

 (170 fathoms), represented by two specimens in which the diameter 

 of the disk reached 50 mm. and the length of the arms 190 mm.; 

 these are therefore large-sized individuals. The arm spines are four 

 in number over a large part of the length of the arms, the number 

 then falling to three. I find nothing in Matsumoto's description 

 permitting the separation of this form from B. conspicua, and I am 

 inclined to believe that the two represent the same species. Matsu- 

 moto compares B. gotoi with B. lacertosa Lyman, which was found 



