108 
any case the arms have a very distinet annulated appearance, rings 
of white and brown skin alternating very regularly to the very tip 
of the arm. — Sometimes the tubercles on the arms are distinetly 
oblong. How Bell came to the statement that “the spines of the 
lower surface (of the arms) are set in a single row on either side 
of the median furrow“ I do not understand. At the merest glance 
it is seen that there are two armspines, not one. Farther out 
on the arm the inner armspine becomes somewhat elongated, very 
distinetly clubshaped and distinetly thorny in the thickened end. The 
outer armspine remains short and thin and often has the appear¬ 
ance of a small sidebranch on the larger, clubshaped spine; both 
are placed on the top of the somewhat prominent side plates; these 
latter are separated from each other by the well developed ventral 
plates. The tentacles are sheathed, more or less distinetly, till about 
the middle of the arm. The ventral surface is covered by a per- 
fectly smooth skin. The “five prominent spines“ which, according 
to Bell, “guard“ the mouth, can be nothing but the mouth edges. 
There is a vertical series of about 10 broad triangular teeth and 
some small grains on the sides of the mouth edges. 
The “Terra Nova“ secured 7 specimens (E. of North Cape, 70 
fms), ranging in size from 8 to 12 mm diameter of disk. A small 
specimen, taken off Three Kings Isl., in 60 fathoms, was given 
me by Captain Bol Ion s. 
That this beautiful Ophiurid is no Åstroschema is evident enough 
and that it cannot be referred to the genus Ophiocreas is likewise 
clear if we do not want to extend the limits of the latter genus 
beyond the usual conception, which would not be in any way de- 
sirable. It seems beyond doubt that this species is the nearest re- 
lated to Åstroceras compar Koehler from the Malay Archipelago, 
and if this latter is justly referred to the genus Åstroceras^ the pre¬ 
sent species must also be included in that genus. From the 
figure of the oral side of Å. pergamena, the type of that genus, 
given in the “Challenger“ Ophiuroidea PI. XXXIV.i it might well 
appear that the genital slits are quite different from those of the 
present species, being represented there as long, narrow, horizontal 
slits, while here they are short, wide, and vertical, as character- 
istic of the Trichasteridae. It is, however, certain that the said fig¬ 
ure is incorrect. In the diagnosis Ly man correetly States that the 
