ECHINODEEMA. 11 



SOLASTER OCTORADIATUS. 



Solaster octoradiatus, Ludwig, Voy. 'Belgica,' Seesterne (1903), p. 25, pi. iii. 



A single specimen of this species was taken at 100 fms., ofF Coulman Island. As 

 the 'Belgica' took it at four stations between 80° and 88° West, it is, perhaps, a 

 circumpolar species. 



Two specimens of Starfish remain to be noticed, which I shall not name, as I 

 feel confident that they have undergone some change either in formalin or otherwise, 

 or are abnormal specimens which will not be again found ; one English naturalist has 

 so burdened the literature of Starfishes with generic names based on immature 

 specimens that I may be pardoned for not following in his footsteps. 



Both of these specimens are very soft to the touch, owing to the numerous large 

 papulae and the apparent absence of any hard parts on the upper and lower surfaces 

 of the Starfish, with the exception of a large and prominent madreporite, and of a 

 few spicules round the vent ; the ambulacral grooves are wide, and the podia of large 

 size ; there are two well-marked rows of spines, the more proximal of which are 

 blunter and more flattened than the more distal ; beyond the outer row there is some 

 slight difference in the two specimens, for in one the integument rapidly becomes 

 smooth, while in the other regular rows of spines may extend as far as the margin. 

 I have not seen any pedicellariae. 



The "register numbers" of these two specimens are : 1906. 1. 22 ; 2 & 3. 



V. OPHIUEOIDEA. 



Though the collection of Brittlestars is large, there are not many species ; the 

 two new genera signalised by me in the report on the ' Southern Cross ' collection 

 are both well represented, and of Ophiosteira there is so remarkable a variety that I 

 am constrained to add another figure to those that I have already published. There 

 are many small immature forms which will be of much use in studying the evolution of 

 species, but to which it would be most unwise to give definite systematic names ; as it 

 is, I am perhaps a sinner, though not so great as some, for I should be hard put to it 

 to defend myself against the suggestion of MM. Delage and Herouard,* that Ophiocrene 

 is a young Astrophyton. 



Ophiuba koehleri. 



Like 0. flagellata of Lyman, in having the disc covered with smooth skin, in 

 which, in neither of the two specimens, are small scales distinctly visible ; the lower 

 arm spines are deeply imbedded in the skin, and thick skin obscures the forms of the 



* Zool. Concrete iii. (1903), p. 159. 



