288 



Mr. J. E. Gray's Synopsis of 



1. Mithrodia spinulosa. Asterias clavigera, Lam. n. 29 ? Penta- 

 dactylosaster reticulatus, Linck, t. 6. and 10. f. 16? Asterias reti- 

 culata, Blainv. Man. ? not Linn, nor Lam. Arms 5 times as long as 

 the width of the body, with a series of large spines on each side. 



The series of spines next to those on the edge of the ambulacra 

 are sometimes hatchet- shaped. 



e. The ambulacra with 2 or 3 series of equal equidistant filiform 

 blunt spines on each side. 



32. Uniophora, Gray. 



Body rather depressed ; rays broad, blunt ; skeleton formed of 

 series of transverse oblong ossicula, each bearing a large unequal 

 sized subglobular articulated spine placed in longitudinal series ; 

 dorsal wart convex, complicated. 



1. Uniophora globif era. Rays short, broad, rounded with glo- 

 bular tubercles. 



Inhab. Van Diemen's Land. Ronald Gunn, Esq. 

 See also Asterias granifera, Lam. n. 24. 



Fam. 4. Asterinidjs, Gray, Syn. Mus. 62. 



Body discoidal or pyramidical, sharp-edged ; skeleton formed of 

 flattish imbricate plates ; dorsal wart single, rarely double. 



1. Palmipes, Linck. 



Body flat, thin, nearly membranaceous ; margin radiately striated ; 

 the dorsal ossicula with a radiating tuft, and the oral ones with a 

 transverse line of many thin mobile spines ; ambulacral spines in ob- 

 lique rounded groups. 



1. Palmipes membranaceus, Linck, t. 1. f. 2. 2. Ast. membranacea, 

 Retz. and Lam. Ast. placenta, Pennant. Ast. cartilaginea, Fleming. 

 Ast. rosacea, Lam. a broken specimen ? — Rays 5 broad. 



Inhab. British Ocean, Plymouth Sound. Mediterranean ? 



2. Palmipes Stokesii. Rays 15, acute. Mus. Mr. Stokes. 



See also Asterias pulvillus, Muller, Zool. Dan. t. 19. f. 1, 2 ; Ast. 

 equestris and Ast. militaris, Muller, of the North Sea ; and Ast. 

 Luna, Linnaeus, from India. All species I have not been able to see. 



2. Porania, Gray. 



Body pyramidical, thick, five-rayed, skin above and below var- 

 nished, spineless; dorsal ossicula irregular ; the margin with 2 series 

 of large ossicula, the lower ones produced sharp-edged, and each fur- 

 nished on the edge with a series of mobile spines ; the ambulacra 

 with 2 series of mobile spines, each pair on a separate ossicule ; the 

 upper marginal ossicula trigonal, imbricate ; the dorsal ones un- 

 equal, irregular, the central of the lower marginal ossicula with 4 

 and the apical ones with a pair of spines. — Allied to Gymnasteria. 



Porania gibbosa. Asterias gibbosus, Leach, Brit. Mus. 1817. 



