DESCRIPTION OF A NEW BRITTLE STAR FROM THE 
UPPER MIOCENE OF THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, 
CALIFORNIA. 
By Rautren ArnNoxp, 
Paleontologist, U. 8S. Geological Survey. 
INTRODUCTION. 
While engaged in field work on the Santa Cruz quadrangle during 
the summer of 1901 two beautifully preserved though somewhat im- 
perfect molds of a brittle star were found by Mr. W. J. Miller in the 
soft arenaceous shale immediately overlying the Santa Margarita 
sandstone south of Scott Valley, Santa Cruz County, California. 
The casts made from these molds exhibit so many diagnostic char- 
acters that it has been deemed expedient to prepare the following 
description. No other fossils were found with the stars but from 
such forms as 
Astrodopsis antiselli Conrad and 
Pecten crassicardo Conrad 
which have been found in the clear white sandstone immediately 
underlying the shale, the age of the stars is known to be upper 
Miocene (upper Santa Margarita formation). 
The form of description used by Lyman in his monograph on the 
Ophiuroidea* has been followed as closely as the state of preserva- 
tion of the specimens would. permit. 
The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Austin 
Hobart Clark, of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, for assistance ren- 
_ dered during the preparation of this paper. 
“Theodore Lyman, Report on the Ophiuroidea dredged by H. M. S. Chal- 
lenger during the years 1873-1876, Challenger Repts., Zoology, V, Pt. 1, 
pp. 1-386, pls. I-xivi11. 4°. London, 1882. 
PROCEEDINGS U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, VOL. XXXIV—No. 1620. 
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