530 Crustacea and Echinodermata of the 
ASTERISCUS MINIATUS. Brandt. 
Asterias miniata, BRANDT ; l. c. 68. 
This pentagonal star-fish may be readily distinguished 
by its thin disk and sharp edge. 
Hab. Sitka, (Mertens ;) Tomales Bay, (Samuels;) San 
Francisco, (Ayres ;) Island of San Miguel, ( Trowbridge.) 
MEDIASTER ÆQUALIS. Stimpson. Nov. gen. et sp. 
PE SMILE 7,8 9,10, i 
This name is proposed for a Goniastroid star-fish, com- 
mon on the coast of Oregon and California, which I can- 
not refer to any described genus or species, although it is 
not impossible that it may belong to one of the numerous 
genera of J. E. Gray, which are however so imperfectly 
characterized that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, 
to identify them. 
Body of little thickness, flat above and below; five- 
rayed; length of rays equalling or exceeding the diameter 
of the disk. Skin set with numerous small rounded plates, 
nearly uniform in size but becoming somewhat smaller 
toward the margin; they are rather more crowded poe 
than above. Scattered pores on the surface of the skin 
between the plates. Margins with a double row of ne 
quadrangular plates; those in the upper and lower series 
opposite. All of the plates above and below, jncluding the 
marginal ones, are covered with granules nearly uniform 
in size and easily rubbed off. On the lower surface - 
granules are somewhat larger and angular, and those m 
the plates bordering the ambulacral furrows are elongat : 
so as to form subprismatic spines, eight or ten to ye: 
plate, the inner ones largest. Anus central, surround | 
by a circle of spine-like granules. No pediceliay™ 
* two-lipped pores,” excepting a single one in the cen 
