I 



W DEEP-SEA STARFISHES 285 



of their own dorsal integument. All these have been 

 dredged in the Bay of Bengal. 

 0 Near the looo-fathom contour-line in these seas 

 we meet with the Pontasters (Fig. 84), and the 

 Zoroasters (Fig. 85). The former are remarkable, 

 like the Pararchasters, for having their breathing- 

 organs i^paptdcB) grouped into little raised plots, situ- 

 ated one at the base of each ray, instead of scattered 

 at random over the whole dorsal surface. The Zoro- 

 asters are distinguished by their small disk and long 

 rigid rays, and by their bunches of forceps-like pedi- 

 cellariae. 



Among the most handsome of the numerous 

 species found as a rule inside the 500-fathom contour- 

 line, in these latitudes, are the Nymphasters, whose 

 exoskeleton forms a mosaic of marvellous symmetry 

 and beauty. In Nymphaster fiorifer (Fig. 86) the 

 radial plates of the disk are larger and more promi- 

 nent than the inter-radial plates, and so form a floral 

 pattern of five raised petals. 



Four species of the beautiful Brisinga, a brittle 

 form with many rays radiating from a small round 

 disk, called after its fancied resemblance to the 

 flaming breast-ornament, or Brising, of the Scandi- 

 navian goddess Freya, have been found here — two 

 off the Andamans, at 405 and 561 fathoms^ and two 

 off the Malabar coast and Laccadives, at 559 and 1043 

 fathoms. Brisinga was first discovered and named 



