THE RECENT CRINOIDS OF AUSTRALIA CLARK. 751 



In the type specimen one of the Til Br series is 4 (3 + 4) ; 

 there are eight IV Br 2 series, all internal ; there is one V Br 

 series. The rays are broad, and the interradial areas are heavily 

 plated. There were about fifteen cirri present in life, the stumps 

 remaining showing that the cirri were stout. 



Comaster multifida is a curious local derivative from the com- 

 paratively wide spread C. typica type. 



Genus C M A N T H U S, ^. iT. Clark. 



Comanthus, 1908, A. H. Clark, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 

 vol. 21, p. 220; Smiths. Miscell. Coll. (Quarterly Issue), 

 vol. 52, p. 203 (Comanthus intricata, sp.nov.). 



Subgenus COMANTHERIA, A. H. Clark. 



Vomantheria, 1909, A. H. Clark, Viden.sk. Medd. fra den 

 Naturhist. Forening i Kobenhavn, 1909, p. 142 [Antedon 

 hriareus, Bell, 1884). 



Differential Characters. — The subgenus Gomaiitheria has the 

 II Br series 4 (3 + 4), the III Br series 2, and some or all of the 

 succeeding division series 4 (3 + 4). The species are all large, 

 with very numerous arms, and usually no cirri. 



Range. — The species of Comantheria range from Northern 

 Australia northward to Canton, China, and Southern Japan ; 

 they are abundant in the Philippine Islands. 



COMANTHERIA ALTERNANS {P. H. C). 



Actinometra alternmis, 1881, P. H. Carpenter, Notes from the 

 Leyden Museum, vol. 3, p. 208 (unknown locality) ; 1884, 

 Bell, Rep. Zoo). Coll. H.M.S. " Alert," p. 169 {Port Molle). 



Differential Characters. — This species has no cirri, the II Br 

 series are 4 (3 + 4), the III Br series 2, and the more distal series 

 evenly divided between 4 (3 + 4) and 2, the two types more or 

 less regularly alternating. 



Australian Becord — Port Molle, Queensland. 



Distribution. — Philippine Islands south to Queensland, in 12-20 

 fathoms. 



Remarks. — The type, which I examined at Leyden, has about 

 ninety arms ; the division series are regularly alternating, the 

 II Br series being 4 (3 + 4), the II[ Br series 2, the IV Br series 

 4 (3 + 4), the V Br series 2, etc.; there are almost no exceptions 

 to this regular alternation. The centrodorsal is in shape like an 

 Mippasteria, not yet having become stellate. 



