12 JAMES A. GRIEG. [2nd ARC. E XP. FRAM 



Aug. 30, 1901. Head of Gaase Fjord; about 8 m. Small stones and 



clay with brown algae. 

 July 15, 1902. Off Havhest Mountain, North Devon. Stones with 



large brown algae. 

 Aug.3&4, 1902. North of the peninsula, Gaase Fjord; 20-30 m. 



Like Stichaster albulus, this species has a very wide distribution 

 in Jones Sound. None of them occur, however, in any great quantity. 



The measurements of the specimens are as follows: 



Arm-radius 8.5—35 mm., disc-radius 2.5 — 7 mm., breadth of the arms 

 at their base 2.5 — 9 mm. The proportion of the disc-radius to the arm- 

 radius varies between 1 : 3.3 and 1 : 5, that of the breadth of the arm to 

 the arm-radius between 1 : 2.8 and 1 : 4.3. 



In "Echmoderms from East Greenland" (28, p. 68), Mortensen 

 comes to the result that different as is the typical Asterias mulleri 

 from the typical Asterias groenlandica, yet if one has a sufficiently 

 large number of each form, it will be found that they merge imperceptibly 

 into one another, and therefore "cannot be maintained as two distinct 

 species; the form groenlandica must be regarded as a more or less 

 distinct variety of Asterias miilleri". A careful examination of the 

 specimens of the two forms in the Bergen Museum fully confirms 

 Mortensens's view. The specimens collected by the Fram Expedition 

 belong to the form groenlandica. 



DoDERLEiN (7, p. 203) supposes that the Asterias spitzhergensis 

 from Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen, described and figured by Danielssen 

 and KoREN (2, p. 177; 4, p. 4, PI. 1), is only a variety of Asterias 

 groenlandica, which it undeniably very much resembles, except that 

 it has alternately 2 and 3 papillae on the adambulacral plates, whereas 

 Asterias groenlandica at the most has only two papillae. An examina- 

 tion of the type-specimens of Asterias spitzhergensis that are preserved 

 in the Bergen Museum, will reveal a very great resemblance in the form 

 and armature of the arms and disc, to Asterias groenlandica, a fact 

 which is also made apparent from Danielssen and Koren's description. 

 They are also similar as regards the shape and arrangement of the 

 pedicellariae. In the specimen which has formed the subject of Danielssen 

 and Koren's description, there are 2 or 3 ambulacral papillae on each 

 adambulacral plate,which, however, are not always alternate; two papillae 

 are more frequently found than three. In other specimens, determined by 

 Danielssen and Koren as Asterias spitzhergensis, there are, however, 

 only two papillae. We thus have in Asterias miilleri alternately 1 and 



