276 



Mr. J. E. Gray's Synopsis of 



1. Culcita, Agassiz. 

 Culcita Schmideliana. Asterias Schmideliana, Retz, Naturforscher, 

 xvi. t. 1. Ast. placenta. Ast. discoidea, Lam. 



Inhab. Lord Hood's Island, on reefs. H. Cuming, Esq. 

 Bright orange when alive, when in the water very convex. 



** Body pentagonal, formed of variously shaped, regularly arranged,, 

 externally granular ossicula. 



2. Pentaceros. 



Body convex above, margin with 2 rows of large spine-bearing 

 tessera?. 



a. Back formed of irregular elongated ossicula, apparently reticu- 

 lated ; the spines with enlarged bases, interspaces closely punctured. 



1. Pentaceros grandis, Seba, t. 8. f. 1. Arms very broad, as wide 

 as long at the base, only half as long as the width of the body. 



Diam. 17". 

 Inhab. . 



2. Pentaceros reticulatus. Asterias reticulata, Linn. Arms rather 

 broad, nearly as long as the width of the body ; back convex. Mon- 

 strosity 4-lobed, Rumph. Mus. t. 15. f. D. 



Inhab. West Indies, Barbadoes. Ralph Green, Esq. 



3. Pentaceros gihbus, Linck, t. 23. f. 36. Seba, iii. t. 7. f. 1. Arms- 

 rather shorter than the width of the body, back depressed. 



Inhab. West Indies and St. Vincent's. Rev. L. Guilding. 



See also Pentaceros lentiginosis, Linck, 25. t. 41, 42. f. 72. Ast, 

 pentacyphus, Retz., with smaller spines and a nearly spineless mar- 

 gin ; and 2. Pentaceros horridus, Linck, t. 25. f. 40. 



4. Pentaceros Cumingii, Gray. The arms rather narrow, nearly as 

 long as the diameter of the body ; marginal spines few, small ; back 

 rather depressed, with conical protuberances, bearing small spines. 



Diam. 12". 



Inhab. Punta Santa Elena. Rocky ground 12 or 18 fathoms. 

 H. Cuming, Esq. 



Perhaps the young of a much larger species. 



5. Pentaceros hiuculus, Linck, t. 26. f. 41. Ast. nodosa, a. Lamk. 

 Arms rather narrow, nearly as long as the width of the body, with 

 a single series of blunt tubercles ; back rather depressed, with a 

 central large tubercle, on each angle of the centre. 



Inhab. Isle of France. Dr. W. E. Leach. 



In Linck's figure the spines are rather larger than in our speci- 

 mens of nearly the same size. 



6. Pentaceros Chinensis. Rays elongated, nearly as long as the 

 width of the body, with small blunt marginal tubercles ; back high, 

 with 4 or 5 small central tubercles, and a very large blunt tubercle at 

 each angle. 



Inhab. China. J. Reeves, Esq. 



The central dorsal series of tessera? are not armed with spines ; are 

 they so in larger specimens ? 



