ECHINODERMATA WHITELEGOE. 157 



MARETIA PLANULATA, Lam. 

 Maretia planulata (Lam.), Agassiz, Rev. Echini, iii., 1. c., p. 570. 



Forty-eight examples, exhibiting great variation in colour ; 

 about one half of the specimens are of a uniform yellowish-white, 

 the rest are more or less streaked or spotted with brown. 



Dredged in abundance in thirteen fathoms of water in the 

 lagoon, one mile west of the Mission Church. 



ASTEROIDEA. 



OPHIDIASTER CYLINDRICUS, Lam. 



Ophidiaster cyliudricus (Lam.), Perrier, Rev. Stellerides, Arch, 

 de Zool. Exper., iv., p. 389 ; Loriol, Cat. Raisonne des 

 Echin. Mem. Soc. Phys. et Hist. Nat. Geneve, xxix., 

 4, p. 20, pi. xi., figs. 3-4. 



Two specimens obtained under stones on the leeward or western 

 side of the Atoll. 



LINCKIA PACIFICA, Gray. 



Linckia pacifica, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., vi., 1840, p. 285 ; 

 Perrier, I.e., iv., p. 404. 



Three examples, which were a brilliant blue colour when alive. 

 Common in the lagoon. 



Native name, " Munga-munga ti." 



CULCITA ACUTISPINA, Jef. Bell. 



Culcita acutispina, Jef. Bell, Ann. &, Mag. Nat Hist. (5), xii., 

 p. 334. 



To this species are referred, though with some hesitation, two 

 specimens obtained in the lagoon. Generally both examples 

 agree with the description given by the author, there are, how- 

 ever, a few characters present which are only slightly touched 

 upon in the original diagnosis. 



In the larger specimen the adambulacral spines are in two 

 rows, the inner consisting of four or five spines to each plate ; 

 they are a little compressed, the central three being the longest. 

 The outer row consists of two spines to each plate which are 

 very unequal in size, the one nearest the actinostome is large, 

 bluntly conical, and not as a rule higher than broad at the base. 

 The smaller outer spine is almost undistinguishable from the 

 granules which beset the surface generally ; occasionally, how- 

 ever, they are more evident, and resemble the larger spines of 

 the inner row. 



