560 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
contact. Under arm plates nearly rectangular, but with rounded corners and slightly concave sides; 
except the first 1 or 2 they are distinctly wider than long. Tentacle scales single, large, oval, more 
than half the length of the under arm plate. Oral shields more or less elliptical, much wider than , 
long, the outer side often flattened; the madrepore plate is usually distinctly longer and larger than the • 
others. Adoral plates large, more or less rounded at each end, on the inner side of the oral shields, 
but not meeting within. Oral papillae, 3 or 4 on each side of each jaw, wide, flat, and thin edged, 
of approximately equal size. Teeth about 12, narrowest above, the broad, lower ones sometimes 
broken in two. No tooth papillae.’ Interbrachial spaces loosely covered with plates, each of which 
bears 1 to 3 large granules or small blunt spines; in each space there is 1 pair of genital slits. Color 
extraordinarily variable; no two specimens seem to be colored just alike; shades of brown, red, 
yellow, purple, and green are most common; unicolor specimens are very rare, the disk being always 
blotched, or marked in some regular pattern, while the arms are banded or longitudinally striped; 
actinal surface generally light, most often yellowish. 
Range . — Greenland to New Jersey, low water to 1,000 fathoms; rare or local south of Cape Cod; 
also Iceland and Spitzbergen; along the coasts of Great Britain and northern Europe to Ireland and 
the English Channel. Bering Sea (Ludwig). . 
Remarks. — Although this beautiful ophiuran has been known to occur in the colder waters off Gay 
Head and Watch Hill and in 38 fathoms even off the coast of New Jersey, it has always been regarded 
as a rarity south of Cape Cod. The reported cases of its occurrence in Vineyard Sound are almost 
certainly cases of mistaken identification. In 1894 Mr. Vinal Edwards took a number of very fine 
specimens on some fishing banks about 15 miles ESE. of Sankaty Head, Nantucket, in 24 fathoms. 
In 1902 we took hundreds of specimens off Sankaty Head in 12 fathoms and on Crab Ledge in 17. 
Those taken off Sankaty Head were all small, very few having a disk diameter of over 7 mm. and none 
over 10, while the specimens from Crab Ledge were of good size, many being over 15 mm. across the 
disk. Next to the remarkable variety of color, which is really beyond description, the most extraor- 
dinary thing about these brittle-stars is the way in which even large specimens secrete themselves in 
cavities and crannies, among rocks, shells, and barnacles. They are eagerly sought as food by codfish, 
and their colors and habits are doubtless protective. The development of this species has been par- 
tially described by Fewkes (’86). 
4. Amphipholis squamata (Delle Chiaje). (PI. 6, figs. 33, 34; pi. 7, figs. 43, 44.) 
Asterias squamata Delle Chiaje, 1828. 
Ophiura neglecta Johnston, 1835. 
Ophiocoma neglecta Forbes, 1841. 
Ophiolepis squamata Muller and Troschel, 1842. 
Ophiolepis tenuis Ayres, 1851. 
Amphiura tenera Liitken, 1859. Lyman, 1865. 
Amphiura tenuis Lyman, 1860. 
Amphiura clcgans Norman, 1865. 
Amphipholis lineata Ljungman, 1871. 
Amphipholis elegans Liitken, 1871. Verrill, 1873 et seq. 
Description . — Arms 5, slender, of moderate length, 2.5 to 4.-5 times the diameter of the disk, which 
is from 3 to 5 mm. Length of arm 12 to 20 mm. Breadth of arm at base, without spines, 0.5 to 0.8 mm. 
Arm spines 3, blunt, nearly equal, the upper a little the stoutest; more slender and acute in the young. 
Disk nearly circular, rather flat, covered with scales of nearly uniform size, 20 or more to the square 
millimeter. Radial shields conspicuous, narrow (about 3 times as long as broad), in close contact 
with each other, barely separated at each end. Margin of disk rather sharply defined bv a line where 
the edges of the scales on the interbrachial spaces meet the scales of the disk. Upper arm plates 
mostly wider than long, with the outer edge slightly curved, the inner edge and sides forming a 
common curve; all except the first 2 or 3 separated by the side arm plates. In the young, the upper 
arm plates are more widely separated, and are nearly pointed on the inner edge. Under arm plates 
about as long as broad, the outer edge nearly straight, the sides straight, or reenteringly curved, the 
inner edge pointed; all are separated by the side arm plates. Tentacle scales 2, quite large. Oral 
shields of medium size, wider than long, rounded without, but pointed within. Adoral plates rather 
large, meeting within. Oral papillae 3 on each side of each jaw, the basal one very much the widest, 
the other 2 small and nearly equal; when pressed together the oral papillae can completely close the 
mouth slit. No tooth papillae. Teeth 5, flat and thin, the lowest the smallest. Interbrachial spaces more 
finely scaled than disk, with 1 pair of genital slits. Color in life quite uniformly brownish or gray, 
