WEST INDIAN STAEFISHES 159 



placing part or all of the spines of the second, or sometimes the 

 third, series. Other characters as in typical nitidus. 



A nitidiis, var. forcipatus Verrill, nov. 



KK. Superomarginal plates are flattish or even a little con- 

 cave transversely, and covered with small spaced spinules. Dor- 

 sal paxillae small, high, openly arranged in spaced rows; their 

 spinules are few, long and very slender. Inferomarginal plates 

 project laterally beyond upper ones, and have two slender, very 

 acute marginal spines, sometimes with a small pedicellaria above 

 the base of each; under side covered with numerous slender, 

 acute spines and spinules of various sizes, the spines not limited 

 to two rows. Inner adambulacral spines very slender, mostly 

 three, but often four or five proximally; second series has four 

 or five slender spines or else a large, usually three-valved pedi- 

 cellaria replacing most or all of the spines ; third series has about 

 three or four slender spines and sometimes a pedicellaria. 



A. americanus Verrill. 



kk' Disk smaller; rays more slender; paxillae smaller; adam- 

 bulacral pericellari^e larger, more often four-valved. 



Var. suh gracilis Ver., nov. 



KKK. Inferomarginal spines two, flattened, with about three 

 small spines below base. Adambulacral spines eight on actinal 

 face, sometimes one longer on the center. Marginal plates 40-42. 



A. ciliatus Grube. 



AsTROPECTEN ARTTCULATUS (Say) Mlill. and Trosch. 



Asteria^ articulates Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sei., Philad., vol. v, p. 141, 1825. 



Astropecten articulatus Miill. and Trosch., Syst. Aster., p. 72, 1842. Liit- 

 ken, Yidensk. Meddel., 1864, pp. 128, 129 (description). Verrill, Notes 

 on Eadiata, Trans. Conn. Acad., i, p. 343, 1868 (distribution) ; Radiata 

 of North Carolina, p. 438. Perrier, Revision, Arch. Zool. Exper. et 

 Gen., vol. v, p. 290, 1876 (not described). A. Agassiz, North American 

 Starfishes, p. 114, pi. 19, figs. 1-8, 1877 (details of structure.) Verrill, 

 Expl. by the Albatross in 1883, pp. 40, 77, 1885 ; Distribution of Echi- 

 noderms, p. 133, 1895. Ives, Echinoderms Bahama Islands, Proc. 

 ' Philad. Acad. Sci. for 1891, p. 337, pi. xvi, figs. 4-8 (includes a trans- 

 lation of Liitken's description.) Clark, Echinoderms of Jamaica, p. 

 [4], 1898. 



Astropecten dubius Gray, op. cit., 1840, p. 182; Synopsis, p. 4, 1866 (variety). 



Diagnosis: This common species, in its normal adult form, 

 has a rather thick disk and robust rays, with large, thick, stout 



