1086 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Linckia multiforis, von Martens, Ueber Ostasiat. Echinod. <Archiv. fur Naturgesch., jahrg. xxxn, 1866, bd. 1, p. 65. 
Ophidiaster multiforis, Edm. Perrier, P^dicellaires, 1869, p. 59. 
Linckia multifora, Liitken, Videnskabelige Meddelelser, 1871, p. 267, and authors generally since then. 
This species is recorded from the Sandwich Islands by Perrier (Revision des Stellerides, p. 150). 
No specimens were taken by the Hawaiian expedition. 
It is not unlikely that with further search in shallow water other forms of Linckia may be brought j 
to light. The genus is a rather difficult one. Most of the species look very, much alike, so that fit is 
not easy adequately to characterize them without the use of figures. Three well-known forms have j 
not yet been figured ( or at least not where the average student can find them ) . Since other species may 
subsequently be found in the Hawaiian Islands, I have ventured to compile from descriptions the ] | 
following synoptical table of the common species of the genus. Linckia multifora, ehrenbergi, and 
marmorata are figured in P. de Loriol’s “ Catalogue Raisonne des Echinodermes de l’Isle de Maurice” a 
(Mem. Soc. Phys. et d’Hist. Nat. Geneve, t. xxix, 1885), and L. guildingi ( L . ornithopus of Muller and 
Troschel), an Atlantic form, in Agassiz’s “North American Starfishes” (Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., ; 
vol. v, no. 1, 1877). 
Key to the commoner Pacific species of Linckia. 
a. Furrow spinelets separated by several granules in a perpendicular series. 
b. R=10-12 r. Arms 9 times as long as wide. Papular areas numerous, small, about the size of the i 
plates, 6 to 12 pores. There is no median radial area free from papular areas. Two or 3 
madreporic bodies multifora j 
(Red Sea, Mozambique, Mauritius, Ceylon, Larentuka, Celebes, Amboina, New Caledonia, Fiji, - [ 
Samoa, and Hawaiian Islands.) 
bb. R=6r. Rays 5 times as long as wide. Papular areas rather large, superficially larger than the j j 
plates. There is a median radial area free of papular areas. One madreporic body. 
Isevigata ( L. miliaris ) 
(Red Sea, Mozambique, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Ceylon, Madras, Andaman Islands, Flores, Timor, 
Celebes, Batjan, Philippines, N. Australia, Claremont Island, New Caledonia, Caroline, Fiji, ! 
and Samoan islands. 
aa. Furrow spinelets not separated by several granules in a perpendicular series. 
b. Only 1 madreporic body, 
c. Two series of adambulacral spinelets contiguous. 
d. R=8.3 r. Abactinal plates in 3 irregular series. A certain number of these plates, more 
prominent and generally rounded, form bosses or “nodosities” irregularly disposed. : 
Papular areas small, with 8 p'ores, sunken. Furrow spinelets alternately large and 
small; the small are cylindrical, the larger broader at tip. The external series is com- 
posed of granules or spinelets contiguous with the furrow series, each situated opposite 
a smaller spinelet. They are slightly larger than the larger furrow spinelets. A third 
series is also present, larger than the other actinal granules and separated from the 
external adambulacral spinelets by a space covered with smaller granules nodosa C 
(Tortugas, Arafura Sea, Torres Strait, fide Bell.) 
dd. R=10.6-12.5 r. Abactinal plates numerous and irregular, equal, not especially prominent, 
about the same dimensions as the papular areas. Adambulacral spinelets in 2 contigu- 
ous series, the inner consisting of alternately large and small spinelets. Those of 
external series are equal; slightly larger and less numerous than the inner series. 
pacifica 
(Mauritius, Nicobar Islands, Andaman Islands, Tahiti, Samoan Islands.) 
cc. The 2 series of adambulacral spinelets separated by a granular area marmorata 
(Mauritius, Prince of Wales Channel, Port Molle, Fitzroy Island.) 
bb. Two or occasionally 3 madreporic bodies. 
c. R=13 r. Length of ray =12 times width . diplax 
(Mauritius, Madagascar, Isle of Bourbon, Christmas Island, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga 
islands, Hawaiian Islands.) 
cc. R=7.5 r. Length of ray=7 times width ehrenbergi 
(Red Sea, Mozambique, Mauritius.) 
