54 
The form described by Sars 1 ) as Ophiocoma Raschi cannot be 
maintained as a species separate from O. nigra. All the characters 
pointed out by Sars as specific differences from O. nigra (the 
shape of the ventral plates, the shape of the mouth shields, the 
number of mouth papillæ) are so variable that they cannot afford 
any reliable distinguishing character. Also the number of armspines 
can be 7 on the proximal armjoints in the typical O. nigra , as it 
is in O. Raschi. — After having examined the type specimens of 
O. Raschi , which were kindly lent me for examination by Dr. E. 
Arnesen of the Kristiania Museum, 1 cannot have the slightest 
hesitation in declaring that Ophiocoma Raschi Sars is nothing than 
a more robust deep water variety of O. nigra. I am informed by 
Prof. Koehler that he has come to the same result. — From 
another point of view it would be more natural to regard the large 
form occurring in the Atlantic from the Azores to Norway as the 
typical form and the smaller form occurring in the Kattegat and 
the Norwegian fjords — partly in very shallow water, on Lami- 
nariæ — as a minor, somewhat dwarfed variety. Since, however, 
the latter is the form described by Abi ld gård, there can, from 
a litterary point of view, be no question that this must range as 
the typical form of the species. 
4—5. Amphiura borealis (G. O. Sars) and 
Amphiura securigera (Dub. & Kor.). 
(Fig. 3, a-f). 
These two species appear to be, upon the whole, comparatively 
rare, being mentioned rather seldom in literature, and the material 
preserved in the museums is quite scarce. The discovery by the 
late Miss Elisabet Petersson of the Gothenburg Museum that 
Amph. borealis is viviparous induced me to undertake a more 
close examination of this species, which led to the further discovery 
that the species is also a proterandric hermaphrodite. 2 ) The material 
of the species preserved in the Copenhagen Museum being insuf¬ 
ficient for the anatomical research I applied to the Bergen Mu* 
1 ) G. O. Sars. Bidrag til Kundskaben om Dyrelivet på vore Havbanker. 
Forh. i Vidensk. Selsk. Christiania. År 1872. (1873). p. 109. 
See the authors paper „Hermaphroditism in viviparous Ophiurids“. Acta 
Zoologica. I. 1920. 
