126 MR FORBES ON THE ASTERIADvE OF 



lar scales nearly as large at the base of each ra}' ; pectinated scales 

 clasping the rays with fewer than sixteen teeth ; intermediate plates 

 beneath with straight sides. Rays covered superiorly b} 1- transversely 

 ovate hexagonal plates, beneath by transversely ovate plates. Sides 

 with lateral plates bearing four or five short appressed spines. Rays 

 three times as long as breadth of disk. Disk of the largest specimen 

 I have met with half an inch broad. Colour generally paler than 

 that of the last species, sometimes almost white. 



Common both in deep and shallow water in the Irish Sea, and pro- 

 bably on all our coasts. 



II. OPHIOCOMA, Agassiz. — Bays simple, squamose, 

 with erect lateral spines, not prolonged into the disk su- 

 periorty, and separated at their origin beneath, by small 

 pentangular scales. 



1. Ophiocoma NEGLECT a.*— PI. IV. Fig. 7. 



Disk round, flat above, imbricated with small smooth scales ; two 

 large oblong scales at the base of each ray ; beneath intermediate 

 scales small, pentangular. Rays covered superiorly by square scales, 

 beneath by longitudinally oblong scales. Sides with transverse 

 ridges bearing four or five conical smooth spines, which are equal 

 in length to the breadth of the ray. Rays more than three times as 

 long as the body. Colour grey. Disk two-tenths of an inch broad. 



Very rare. One specimen dredged ofT Ballaugh, Isle of Man, in 

 September 1838. 



2. Ophiocoma BELLis.f 



Disk sub-pentangular, convex, covered by small rounded scales 

 regularly arranged and rosulated in the centre, the intermediate 

 spaces rough with short blunt rough spines. A cordiform depression 

 at the base of each ray. Rays covered above by transversely ovate 

 scales, separated and surrounded by small quadrangular plates. Ray- 

 plates beneath quadrangular, as well as rays punctate. Sides of rays 

 with prominent transverse ridges, each bearing five conical blunt 

 thick spines. Ridges punctate, intermediate spaces smooth. Spines 

 not equal to the breadth of ray. Rays not three times the breadth of 

 disk. Disk six-tenths of an inch broad. Colour reddish. 



Common in deep water. 



• Ophiura neglecta, Johnston, Mag. Nat. Hist. viii. p. 467, fig. 42. 

 f Ophiura bellis, Fleming, Brit. An. 488. 



